18

Inara’s dad informed her the next morning that Lemuel had insisted on funding the wedding arrangements and had already wired some good money in. Inara went to her room and texted;

Thank you for the fund.

Few moments later, he responded with;

Good Manners.

Afterwards, she received a call from a strange number and picked it up.

“Hello.”

“This is Cassy Blake.”

Inara was shocked. Cassy was her bully in junior high. Cassy and two other snobbish girls called Eve and Amy had always made her life a living hell. They had often called her a fatty and messed with her lunch box until Zee who had come in as a new student, stepped in and made them back off. It was how she and Zee had become friends. She wondered why Cassy would be calling her.

“Hi Cassy.” She said, not sure what to expect.

Cassy laughed in her familiar high-pitched voice that had Inara putting the phone some distance away from her ear. It sounded like sirens wailing up close. Then she returned the phone to her ear as soon as the lau