Faire Exchange: Chapter 36 [FINAL]

Halley gets brought up to speed.

And here we are: the final chapter of Faire Exchange! Thank you all for reading!

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Halley stayed away from Rina, just like Daddy said. On the other hand, she was glad to see Rina at lunch again, after that disaster yesterday. Even Daddy was shocked when he found out about it. "They didn't have to go that far," he'd said. "Wouldn't be surprised if she withdraws."

But she didn't withdraw, and Rina was once again sitting with Nadia and those weird boys. There was just one thing that confused Halley. Why the heck was Paul's sister sitting there with them?

Something had changed. A day ago most of the fifth graders hated her, including the ones Rina was sitting with. Now they were laughing with her.

And Halley wasn't the only one who thought it was weird. On the way to her table, she overheard two fifth grade girls wondering what was wrong with Zoe. "I wouldn't let Rina off the hook that easy!"

It didn't make sense. How could the girl who'd started the food fight be acting like nothing happened? Halley wanted to go ask, but no—Daddy told her very plainly not to get near Rina. She was a bad influence, and Halley knew it. If she wasn't careful, Rina was going to make her flood the gym or set something on fire. Who knows? She might make Zoe do it.

Once Halley sat down, it turned out Paul and everybody were paying attention to Rina as well, and soon they couldn't take it anymore. They ran out toward her, and Halley couldn't stay behind.

"Lady Rina, are you gonna play with us today?"

"Some other time," Rina said. "They're not letting us have recess."

That explained why she wasn't wearing her cloak, and none of the others were wearing their jackets. Don't need anything for cold weather when you're not going outside.

"What're you doing with her?" Paul said, pointing at his sister. "Come sit with us instead!" Zoe leaned back and gave him a dirty snarl.

"Yeah! She's mean!" another girl said. Now it was the shaggy-haired boy next to Zoe giving the snarl.

"Well, so am I," Rina said. "Now go! I wish to be with my friends. Maybe next week."

And the third graders stalked off to their tables. If Lady Rina said she wanted to stay, she was going to stay.

"Wait," Rina said. "Halley."

Halley shook and turned.

"I can make an exception for you." Rina turned to Zoe. "If that's all right."

Zoe shrugged. There were still a couple of empty seats, one next to her, the other across, next to Rina.

"I-I'm sorry, Lady Rina," Halley said. "My dad says I'm not supposed to hang around you anymore. The stuff we did together was wrong. I don't want to do anything bad anymore."

She cringed back, waiting for the lightning bolt.

"Oh." Rina began to tap her tray with her fork. "Yes. You're right. It was wrong. I understand. And I'm sorry."

"You've been saying that a lot today," the shaggy-haired boy said with a sly grin.

"Watch it, Vlachos." Rina asked Zoe, "Where were we?"

Now Halley was really confused. Did she just hear Rina apologize? "What's going on?"

The fifth graders all turned to stare, even the boys. Everybody seemed so colossal.

"I just… I don’t understand." Halley pointed at Zoe and Rina, as if wagging her finger at them, scolding them. "What are you two doing? I thought you hated each other."

Paul's sister folded her hands around her fork. "Yeah, I guess we did. But after the food fight yesterday, I had to go over to see her, and we got to talking over dinner, and we called sort of a truce."

"You know what really did it?" Nadia said, sitting beside Rina. "Turns out they both like shining seelie dumplings."

"They're so good! You tried one! You should know!"

And that sparked a sudden burst of chatter about the dumplings.

"So…" Halley slid her foot back. "You don't mind that she's a bully?"

Rina did something else Halley had never seen: she winced. "That's the word for it, isn't it?" she said, and the others nodded. "If that's how you feel, then I suppose your father's right. You should not come near me. But if you could, please tell him I am trying to act better. I was unhappy here at first, even a little scared, and I wanted to run away from it all. But now, I'm trying to find other ways to be happy."

Halley thought about how Rina had cried after trying to zap that boy the other day. Daddy had said that bullies are basically cowards. It sounded like Rina realized the same thing. "Well, I'm sorry to bother you," Halley said. "I'm gonna go finish my lunch."

As Halley turned away, Rina said, "Hang on."

She let Rina approach.

Rina leaned in and whispered. "The truth is," she said, "I don't know if you can tell, but everyone's avoiding Zoe and Nadia because of me."

Halley cast her eyes around the lunchroom. It was so dense that you could only avoid someone so much… but Halley couldn't miss the suspicious looks coming her way from the fifth graders, boys and girls alike.

But Daddy still wouldn't approve. "I dunno…"

"Could you please sit with us?" Rina said. "I promise I won't make you do anything bad. No pranks, no spells. We're just sitting down for a nice meal."

Halley looked at the empty space on the table. "Well…" She always did know Rina could be good. She did patch up Halley's knee.

"Come on, Rina, I don't wanna get this kid in trouble," Nadia said.

"Yeah, me either," Zoe said. "We're all on thin ice as it is."

Rina folded her arms and thought for a moment. "How about this? Halley, you're right. You shouldn't sit with me. You should sit with them." She spun around, twirling her skirt. "Nadia, could you switch places with me?"

"Huh? Okay." Nadia shifted her lunch toward Rina's place, and moved Rina's next to where the boy with the bowl cut was sitting. The same boy Rina had tried to zap.

"You sure about this, Rina?" Zoe said.

"I'm trying to be nice," Rina said. "You have a problem with that?" Then to Halley, "What do you say?"

Halley watched the boy's face turn red as he realized Rina would sit next to him. The empty space next to Nadia was waiting for her.

Rina really was ready to be nice, wasn't she? "I guess maybe for a little bit," Halley said.

And so she spent lunch that day hanging out with what turned out to be two pretty cool fifth graders.

Fifth graders! Wow!