“Hello, Thorne in the flesh,” cried another very tall girl, who looked down upon the shorter Sidney as she spoke. “Going to beat me in everything this year?”
“Going to try to, Olive,” returned Sidney, whirling around to look up at her old rival and exchange mild embraces.
“Well, look out, that’s all,” laughed Olive, moving away with a salute.
“Listen, Sidney,” said another miss who was trying to get to Sidney through the group. “There is going to be a meeting of the athletic board right after dinner in the library. Don’t you forget it and do something else!”
“All right, Dorothy. I’ll be there.”
There were other girls, who did not rush to meet Sidney, and one who joined the tall, competent looking Olive Mason, as she walked away from Sidney’s group, made a somewhat critical remark. “I don’t see why you should welcome Sidney Thorne so cordially, Olive. She did everything but cheat to beat you last year.”
“Good sportmanship, my dear,” replied Olive. “She didn’t cheat and it is up to me to see that my work is better than hers.”
“I think that it is, Ollie. It was just favoritism that gave her the higher grades! Sidney Thorne is a little snob!”
“I’d show myself pretty small, if I said that favoritism gave Sidney the higher grades, so never mind, Barbie. Please don’t say anything like that around where the girls can hear you. They all know that you are such a friend of mine and they might think that I felt that way. It wouldn’t look well, to say the least, Barbara.”
“Don’t worry. If I express an opinion about Sidney, I’ll see that the girls know it is my own, not yours. I’ll say this for Sidney Thorne, that she doesn’t push herself in; but she just loves it that they put her on all the boards and committees and make much of her.”