Pearl in the Mist (Landry 2)

permission to leave, that is."

"Not for a week," I added.

"In the meantime, you still have the river picture you've started to complete." She squeezed my hand. "Anyway, artists aren't expected to behave and obey the rules. Artists are impulsive and

unpredictable. We have to be in order to be creative."

She made me feel better again, and I didn't think about my punishment and my meeting with Mrs. Ironwood until I returned to the-dorm and saw Mrs. Penny straightening the furniture in the dorm lobby. I pounced on her.

"I thought we had a deal," I snapped at her. "I thought we agreed."

"Deal?" She smiled in confusion. "What do you mean, Ruby dear?"

"I thought you weren't going to tell about me and Miss Stevens going to the river to paint," I said.

She shook her head. "I didn't tell. I've been worried about it, but I didn't tell. Why?" She pressed her palms to her bosom. "Did Mrs. Ironwood find out?"

"Yes. I'm confined to the dorm for a week. No social privileges. I'm sure you'll be told about it shortly."

"Oh dear, oh dear," she said, her hands fluttering from her bosom to her plump cheeks as if they were birds looking for a place to alight. "That means she's going to be calling me to find out why I didn't know and why I didn't tell her when I found out. Oh dear."

"Just say I snuck out," I said quickly. "Just say you never knew. I'll confirm that if she asks."

"I don't like lying. See: One falsehood leads to another and another."

"You didn't lie."

"I didn't do what I was supposed to do. Oh dear." She walked away in a daze.

It wasn't until later in the evening, when I had a chance to speak to Gisselle alone in her room, that I realized what had really happened.

"You hate it here now, don't you?" she asked me after I had told her about my meeting with Mrs. Ironwood. "Now maybe you'll tell Daddy we should leave and return to our own school." Her smile turned oily and evil. "I still want to leave, even though the Iron Lady likes me more than she likes you. Why, we're almost pals," she added with a laugh.

And then it came to me: why she had been pretending to be a good student, why she had been behaving. She had ingratiated herself with Mrs. Ironwood and then she had told on me and Miss Stevens.

"You're the one who ratted, aren't you, Gisselle? You got me and Miss Stevens in trouble."

"Why would I do that?" she asked, shifting her eyes away.

"Just so I would be punished and be unhappy and you could pressure me to ask Daddy to get us out of here. And because of your constant jealousy of me," I told her.

"Me? Jealous of you?" She laughed. "Hardly. Even though I'm in this wheelchair, I'm still head and shoulders above you. You've got years and years of swamp life to overcome. You and your Cajun family," she said contemptuously. "Now, are you going to call Daddy or not?"

"No," I said. "I won't break his heart and hand Daphne another victory over us."

"Oh, you and your stupid competition with Daphne. Why don't you want to get back to our school where there's no Iron Lady and none of these stupid rules, where we have boyfriends and fun?" she whined.

Unable to hold back, I flared. "From what I can see," I said, "you're having loads of fun here--and at my expense or someone else's every single day."

Samantha stepped into the room but hesitated when she saw my face and heard my loud voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you two want to be alone?"

"Hardly," I said, my face on fire. "And if I were you and your friends, I'd be very careful about what I said and did around here from now on."

"What? Why?" Samantha asked.

I gazed with fury upon my twin sister. "Things have a way of getting back to Mrs. Ironwood," I said, and pivoted to march out of the room.