by Kate Brian
Ariana’s arms curled tighter around the stack of musty lab coats in her arms. St. Barth’s. So the Easton crowd was still spending Christmas down there. And now, Reed was a part of it. Reed had probably met Upton Giles and Poppy Simon and the Hathaways. She had probably spent Christmas morning at Noelle’s with all the families. She was really one of them now. And Ariana was not.
Hot fury began to bubble in Ariana’s veins. This was so unfair. She was supposed to be killing Reed right now. Strangling every last breath out of her. Experiencing the most perfect moment of her life. But instead she was forced to listen to this.
“I’ll just tell her the same thing I told her last time,” Reed said. “Thanks for the invitation, but me and St. Barth’s do not mix.”
Noelle laughed lightly. “She can’t argue with that.”
“No one could,” Reed replied. “Besides, Scott is going to Vail with his new girlfriend and Josh invited me to see his parents’ house in Vienna. So I’ll be spending Christmas in Croton, and then jetting to the Continent for a week before going back to the Cape for New Year’s.”
She put on a snotty voice on the word “Continent,” as if calling Europe that was some kind of joke. Ariana gritted her teeth. Reed would never set foot on the Continent if she had anything to say about it.
“God. Who knew you were going to become such a jet-setter?” Noelle said.
“I know, right?” Reed replied with a grating laugh. “Okay. I’m all set. Let’s get out of here.”
“Finally,” Noelle said in a dramatic way.
Ariana pressed back against the wall as first Reed’s coat, then Noelle’s, flashed by the sliver of open space between the two doors.
Ariana’s pulse stopped. Noelle was leaving. It was so unfair. She was supposed to be Ariana’s best friend for life, not Reed’s. For a fleeting moment, she wondered what Noelle would do if she revealed herself to her. Would she be happy to see her? Relieved to find her alive and well? Would she throw her arms around her and hug her and invite her to St. Barth’s for the holiday?
It was a lovely fantasy. But as Reed doused the lights and the two of them stepped out, Ariana knew it could never come true. She could never reveal herself to anyone from her old life. Not even Noelle. Suddenly her heart hurt with a severity she had never imagined before. It was so wrong, that Reed got to be with Noelle—got to laugh with her, know her secrets, go on trips with her. Noelle had been Ariana’s best friend first. Ariana’s confidante. She was just one more of the many things Reed had stolen out from under her. Just another reason Reed deserved to die.
The lab door closed and their footsteps faded away. Ariana held her breath, counted to one hundred, then shoved open the closet doors. Her body felt as if it weighed five hundred pounds, most of the suffocating bulk concentrated in her chest. She let the lab coats slip to the floor as angry, disappointed tears filled her eyes.
She had come here to finally end Reed. Finally end all the misery and suffering. Finally win justice for all of those who had died. But she had been thwarted by her own best friend. Why did these things keep happening to her? Why couldn’t she catch a break? Why couldn’t she, for once, get what she deserved?
THE OBLIGATORY ENTOURAGE
“Here’s your latte and cinnamon scone, Ana.” Quinn placed the cup and plate on the marble table in front of Ariana on Saturday morning and stood back with a smile, smoothing her long, strawberry blond hair over one shoulder. Jessica hovered there as well, ready to take orders. Ariana looked at her eager face and decided to throw her a bone. “It’s chilly in here this morning, isn’t it?” she said, glancing around as if looking for an open window or some other source of the cold.
“Do you want me to get you a sweater?” Jessica asked, rising onto her toes.
“That would be fabulous,” Ariana replied. “The gray cashmere, I think.”
“I’ll be right back.” And just like that, Jessica was gone, a blur of black curls and blue skirt.
“Anything else I can get you?” Quinn asked. “Otherwise I have a study session for my econ exam this morning.”
“No, thank you, Quinn. You’re dismissed.” Ariana gave a quick wave of her hand to punctuate the statement.
“Okay. Text me if you need anything. Anything at all,” Quinn said as she gathered her things.
“Oh, I will.”
Ariana smiled to herself as Quinn hurried off. There was no better way to overcome a serious failure than to spend a morning being waited on by a team of servants anticipating her every need. When she’d woken up this morning, part of her had wanted to just stay in bed and wallow over her crash and burn at Georgetown, but she had forced herself to get up and go out into the world—to remind herself of the things she had to live for. Like the perks of being Stone and Grave president. Over the past two days, Ariana had received dozens of congratulatory phone calls from prestigious alumni, and gifts had started to pour in from all corners of the globe. Sitting next to her plate right now was a stack of invitations that had arrived in her mailbox just that morning, everything from an invite to a charity event at the botanical gardens, given by a prestigious Stone and Grave alum, to a request for her presence at a luncheon at the Capitol, to a ticket to the New Year’s Eve MTV bash in New York City. Ariana smiled just looking at them. Briana Leigh Covington really was a star.
A star who can’t even execute the simplest plan, a little voice inside her mind chided.
Ariana’s heart sank as the memory of how very close she’d come to being caught yesterday came flashing back in vivid relief. She placed her coffee cup down and gritted her teeth. Why couldn’t Reed have been there alone, like she’d said she was going to be? Why did everyone always have to be so damned unreliable? When Ariana said she was going to do something, she did it. How else were people supposed to make plans?
“It’s just so infuriatingly impertinent,” she muttered under her breath.
If Reed hadn’t changed her schedule for the day at the last minute, she would be dead by now, and Ariana could get on with her life—get on with plotting her next move with Meloni and securing her future. But no. She had to go finishing her lab the night before. Even that wouldn’t have been so bad, if she’d simply not shown up at all. Ariana would have waited for a while before giving up, going home, and coming back with a new plan. But that wasn’t possible, either. Reed had to pop into the lab to print out her work and, just to add insult to injury, bring Noelle along with her. It was as if the girl had known Ariana would be hiding there and had figured out exactly how to hurt her.
Behind her, a pair of girls laughed and Ariana turned toward them. It was Tahira’s roommate, Allison Rothaus, and her friend Zuri. They were huddled over a cell phone, scrolling through pictures. The two of them were, of course, strictly second-tier around here. Zuri was in one of the other societies and Allison had failed to make the cut at Stone and Grave. But still. The sight of them together, having fun, made Ariana’s spirits drop even lower. They may have been losers, but at least they had each other.
Ariana turned around in her seat again and looked at the empty chairs surrounding the table, feeling suddenly and hopelessly alone. A few weeks ago, Brigit would have been sitting right next to her, gabbing about the next big party. Soomie would have been texting on her BlackBerry obsessively. Lexa would have been perched across the table, flipping through Vogue and pointing out who would look best in which outfits. Maria would have been to her left, chugging her espresso and studiously avoiding carbs. But now, Brigit and Lexa were both dead, Soomie was AWOL, and Maria was taking out her grief in the dance studio. Ariana may have been the new It Girl on campus, but that position was supposed to come with an entourage. Hers was practically nonexistent.
“We need to talk.”
Tahira dropped into the chair across from Ariana’s and just like that, Ariana completely perked up. At least she wasn’t sitting in the café looking like a loner anymore.
“What’s up?” Ariana asked. “Do you want something to
eat? Because I can get Quinn back here in two shakes,” she said, reaching for her phone.
“No, thanks.” Tahira rested her elbows on the table, her dozens of glittery bangle bracelets clinking merrily. She wore a royal blue, V-neck and her dark hair hung in loose waves over her shoulders. “There’s just something I have to ask you. It’s kind of serious.”
Ariana’s heart skipped a troubled beat. Was this about Palmer? Had he finally gotten around to spreading rumors about her?
“You have my undivided attention,” Ariana said, trying to sound upbeat.
“Okay, ever since you got here, all this weird stuff has been happening,” Tahira began. “I’m not even going to get into the thefts,” she said, causing Ariana’s stomach to turn. “We’re well past that.”
Ariana cleared her throat. She’d forgotten about the thefts. Only Tahira knew about them, but that, coupled with anything Palmer might have said, was not going to help her case. She sat up straight as Jessica returned with her sweater.
“Here you go, Ana. Is there anything else I can—”
“No, thank you, Jessica. Just go,” Ariana snapped.
Jessica’s face crumpled and she hurried off. Ariana clucked her tongue, but the last thing she felt able to deal with at that moment was stroking the ego of an underling. Why was Tahira even mentioning the petty crime Ariana committed at the beginning of term?
“But first Palmer breaks up with Lexa out of nowhere to get with you, and last year those two were totally most likely to hire Colin Cowie,” Tahira continued under her breath. “Then Brigit dies, Lillian vanishes, and now Lexa …”
Ariana’s heart pounded sickly in her throat. She clutched the cashmere sweater under the table, her mind whirling in ten thousand directions. Tahira had figured her out. She knew that it was all connected, and connected through her. The question was, how much did she know? Had she found out Ariana’s true identity? Was that what had kept her up all night? And what would Ariana have to do to keep her quiet?
“I just need to know,” Tahira said, leaning so far forward Ariana could see every inch of her cleavage. “How do you do it all?”
Ariana licked her dry lips. “Do what all?”
“Somehow, with all of this stuff going on around you, you managed to keep your head on straight and come out the other side the queen bee!” Tahira exclaimed, sitting up, her brown eyes wide. “I mean, aside from that slight panic attack the other night, but everyone’s had one or two of those in their lives. So tell me. How do you do it?”
Ariana let out a whoosh of breath. Her tension deflated so quickly she actually slumped forward for a moment, resting her elbows on the table and her head in her hands, her sweater draped across her knees. Tahira wasn’t accusing her of masterminding the deaths and disappearances and breakups. She wasn’t going to tell her she thought she was crazy, too. She was telling her she thought she was awesome.
“Take your time,” Tahira said. She reached for Ariana’s scone and tore off a piece. “Omigod! Is that an invite to the MTV New Year’s thing?” She snagged the glittery envelope from the top of the pile. Then her eyes widened at the large stack of invitations beneath it. “Wow. It must be good to be president.”
Ariana preened. “I suppose so,” she said modestly.
“Unbelievable,” Tahira said in awe, running her fingers along the edge of the invitation. “Seriously, Ana. You should give, like, a seminar on success or something. Right now, every girl at this school wants to be you.”
Now Ariana couldn’t help grinning. Tahira had no idea, but this little visit was exactly what she’d needed. Still, there was that niggling problem of Palmer’s threat hanging out there like a guillotine ready to drop. Ariana narrowed her eyes and decided that she could trust Tahira, especially after the serious ego-stroking the girl had just given her.
“T, can I ask you something?” she said, resting her elbows casually on the table.
“Anything.”
“Has Palmer said anything about me? To you or Rob or anyone?” Ariana asked.
Tahira laughed lightly. “Oh, you mean that ridiculous story about you trashing your room? Uh, yeah. I heard that one.”
“You did?” Ariana asked, her face flushed.
Tahira grabbed another piece of scone. “Like anyone’s gonna believe that. You’re the second most anal person I know, after Soomie,” Tahira said as she chewed. “And honestly, even if you did trash your room, who cares? Everyone’s gotta vent somehow, especially with everything that’s been going on. The other day me and Rob went to his dad’s shooting range and went ballistic on the targets with actual shotguns. It was so therapeutic.”
Ariana blinked. “Um. Wow.”
“Yeah. No one’s gonna be judging you for breaking your own stuff. Believe me,” Tahira said firmly. “And all Palmer did by bringing it up out of nowhere was make himself look like a sore loser and, honestly? Kind of a dick.”
Ariana laughed under her breath. Talk about a plan backfiring. Too bad for Palmer. “That’s good to know. Thanks, Tahira.”
“I just can’t believe you have to run S and G with him as your second-in-command. That’s not gonna be awkward or anything,” Tahira said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
Ariana curled her hands around her coffee cup. With everything else that was going on, she hadn’t even thought of that. Palmer was still the vice president of Stone and Grave. And he clearly hated her. His first play for power seemed to be unsuccessful, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t keep trying. Perhaps it was time to start thinking of ways to get rid of him. Maybe it would be a good thing if he kept talking crap about her around campus. If everyone started to think he was a sore loser and a dick, it would be far easier to gather support for his removal.
Tahira’s phone beeped and she tugged it out of her bag. “Crap. I was supposed to meet Rob and his parents at the gates ten minutes ago,” she said as she stood up again. “They’re flying back to Florida today and we said we’d have breakfast with them. Yee. Ha.”
Ariana laughed.
“Hey, do you want to do some shopping tomorrow?” Tahira asked, lowering her voice. “I personally believe that the president of Stone and Grave should have a signature look to be envied by all. And I’m not talking about that sunglasses-at-night look.”
“Absolutely,” Ariana replied. “We can make a plan later.”
“Perfect,” Tahira said. She leaned down and double-air-kissed Ariana. “Then maybe I can pick your brain about how you do it all.”
She winked before whirling away and disappearing through the Privilege House doors. Ariana watched her go, her confidence entirely recovered. Apparently Palmer didn’t wield quite as much power as he thought. And Tahira was right, after all. Look at all she’d been through in her life, and she always, always found a way to land on her feet. Yesterday’s blip with Reed had been just that—a blip. All she needed to do was rethink, retrench, come up with a new, foolproof plan. Before long, Reed Brennan would be dead, and Ariana would be one step closer to the perfect life she’d always wanted.
HOLDING OUT
“Okay, I need one of these in every color.”
Tahira grabbed a fringed leather Jimmy Choo bag and slung it over her shoulder, posing in front of the full-length mirror. Ariana had already done some serious damage to her credit cards, buying a whole new wardrobe for her position of power. She’d purchased so much, in fact, that she’d left all her packages with the store’s valet to have them shipped back to school, knowing they wouldn’t fit in the trunk of her tiny car.
“It is very you,” Ariana replied as she considered a mustard-colored Michael Kors clutch.
“What do you think, Maria?” Tahira asked, whipping around dramatically. “Isn’t it just yum?”
Maria glanced over from her perch atop a Lucite table filled with sale merchandise. “Eh,” she said.
Tahira’s shoulders dropped and the bag slid to her wrist. “Eh? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Sorry. Fringe isn�
�t really my thing,” Maria said, lifting her slim shoulders.
“Well, I love it,” Tahira replied. She walked over to the counter and plopped the black bag down in front of the saleslady. “I’ll take the red, the white, and the green as well.”
The saleswoman’s dark eyes widened, probably seeing her monthly commission triple in one fell swoop. Tahira had just committed herself to about five thousand dollars’ worth of purses.
“Are you getting that?” Tahira asked Ariana.
Ariana replaced the bag on its shelf. “I think I’ve spent enough for one night,” she said, even though she could have bought a million clutch bags with the green she had in her bank account, thanks to Grandma Covington’s recent death.
“Well, maybe your new boyfriend will get it for you for Christmas,” Tahira said, her voice leading. She slapped her credit card down on the counter as the saleswoman returned from the display with her other bags.
Ariana smirked. She’d wondered when this subject would come up. Now that the wound of Lexa’s death wasn’t quite so fresh and the Stone and Grave presidency had been decided, of course Jasper would be the next bit of gossip to occupy everyone’s minds.
“Yeah, what’s up with that anyway?” Maria asked, leaning her palms into the display table across from Ariana. “One second you’re dumping Palmer, all heartbroken, and the next second you’re canoodling with the Louisiana blondie.”
Ariana lifted a shoulder. “It just kind of … happened.”
“Oh, please. You’re not getting off that easily,” Tahira said, watching with one eye as the saleslady placed her purchases into their cushy boxes. “I mean, Jasper’s a cutie, don’t get me wrong. But Palmer is … Palmer.”
“And Palmer’s a jerk,” Maria put in.
“Yes, but only since the breakup,” Tahira reminded them.
“I don’t know. Jasper and I bonded during pledging and there was always something intriguing about him,” Ariana said with a blush. She dragged her finger across a row of hanging Coach keychains, letting them swing and clink together. “Palmer was always very by-the-book, very black-and-white and predictable. But Jasper is … surprising.”