“I can imagine that Betty is pretty lonesome sometimes,” added Sue, gravely looking at the letter which she still held. “But it seems just like a nice adventure that you read about, and if we can go, we’ll have a share in some of it.”
[CHAPTER VI: FRIENDS AND FUN]
Had Betty Lee imagined any faintly romantic attraction to her dainty self on the part of Ted Dorrance, she would have been disappointed during these first weeks in the new school. He always spoke when they met in the halls provided he saw her; but he was usually with other boys and very much engrossed in whatever he was discussing with them. Hurrying crowds on the way to classes had little interest for Betty as well. She, too, was absorbed by the busy and interesting life, and soon had friends among the girls in her classes.
Betty, though friendly, was by nature not inclined to make close friends immediately. But girls that recite together and have the same lessons will find much in common. Betty’s good recitations and her hand that went up often to answer the questions of different teachers were sufficient introduction to her classmates, who heard her name, as she heard theirs, when she was called upon to recite. She cheerfully lent a pencil or pen for a moment, or answered some question before class about the lesson, or sat upon her desk, opposite some similarly perched girl, to chat about coming events. There were “hundreds of freshmen” and that literally; but they resolved themselves into the comparative few with whom she recited in her different classes.
Long before the Thanksgiving visit, which she anticipated from her old home chum, she was accustomed to school and work and thoroughly liked many of the girls, especially a few who were “very chummy” with her, she told her mother, and sat with her at lunch, or waited for her after class, or planned their work or recreation together.
Louise Madison, she found to be a senior, president of the Girls’ Athletic Club, a large association, indeed, consisting of all the girls who “went in” for athletics. A certain amount of gym work was required, but one could take more, to be sure. Yet Betty’s parents were a little hesitant just yet; and not knowing the wisdom of the teachers in charge, preferred that Betty wait a little, except in swimming, which her father said she ought to know as well as possible, so that she could “swim to Europe” in case something happened to the ship before it reached port.
At that remark, soberly delivered, the family had laughed, but Doris asked in good earnest, “When are we going, Papa?”
“Aw, Dodie,” said Dick, “can’t you tell a joke when you hear one?”
“Well, we probably shall go some day,” airily said Doris, provoked at herself for having spoken too soon, and none too well pleased with her twin. “You think you’re very smart!”
“Doris,” quietly said her mother with a reproving shake of her head, and trouble was avoided.