It was the worst game she’d ever played. Staring at the stack of cards in the middle of the table, Tonya shook her head. She was gonna lose all her free time at this rate. Around the table, Rogue, Bobby Drake, Jenny Stravos and Shelley Ashe all had the same look of trepidation on their faces. Everyone was loathe to pick up the next card, unsure of what they’d get. “Tonya’s cheating,” Bobby suddenly said, and everybody groaned.
“Come off it, Drake,” Tonya said. “I couldn’t cheat in this game if I tried.”
“Well, somebody is!”
“If anybody is cheating, it’s me,” Jenny volunteered. “But I’m not. This is a fair game.”
Rogue looked sideways at Bobby, then grinned. “Ah think the only reason Bobby’s nervous is because he has a bad card.”
“I do not!” the only male in the circle protested, but he was shot down by four knowing female grins.
There was a sound at the door of the greenhouse, and Tonya automatically looked up.
It was her sister, Marian. Well, Marian wasn’t her real name, but that was what everybody called her.
“What’s up?” Tonya asked, motioning her twin to sit down, but Marian shook her head. She wasn’t one for social hour.
“I need some help with the books in the library,” Marian whispered.
Everybody had to strain to hear her voice, because she had never talked above a whisper, but Tonya was used to listening and lip-reading at the same time, and just nodded.
“Good idea. You wouldn’t want to throw out your back, now would you?” Tonya stood.
“I’ll be back. In fact, I think I should forfeit this game, and just do my own chores.”
There were a few groans, but nobody truly objected. As Tonya left, the quartet continued playing the cuthroat game that would decide who did the most chores for that week: Old Maid.