down at it. "Funny. I was about to ask you the same thing," she spat. She thrust the phone in my face and the entire world screeched to
a stop. Me and Dash. Me and Dash in streaming video on the tiny screen. Kissing. Touching. Falling down on a red mattress together.
My hands groping for his waistband. His fingers unzipping my dress. It was all there. All of it. My night at the Legacy. She had seen it
all.
ON THE OUTSIDE
Noelle headed for the door, but for the first time all night I knew what I had to do. I had to stop her. I had to make her understand.
"Noelle, please! Please, stop. Let me explain!" I chased her down, grabbed her arm. She yanked it away with so much force she al-
most knocked me off my feet. "This is the Legacy!" she snapped, her hands shaking as she held up the phone. "This is the night Dash
and I got back together." I couldn't tear my eyes away from the video. It had been taken from the entrance to the tent. Who had done
this? How? Was it Ivy? Was it someone spreading gossip? Why? And why had they sent it to her now?
"Don't you have anything to say, Miss Trust-Me? Miss I-Can't- Lose-You-Too?" Noelle demanded, trembling with anger. "God, to
think I called you my sister!" she spat. "You're nothing but a back- stabbing, lying slut!" A few people around us gasped, reminding
me that we weren't alone. Reminding me of where we were. "Noelle, I am so, so sorry," I choked out, approaching her with tears
streaming down my face. "Hell, yeah, you're sorry," Noelle replied under her breath, getting as close to me as possible. Clearly she
didn't want any members of the audience she had just won over to hear what she had to say. "You're done at Billings, Reed. Done at
Easton. You may as well pack your shit up and hop the next train back to Croton, because you are not going to want to be around to
find out what I can do to you."
I looked around, desperate... for what? An ally? Someone to swoop in and save me? Someone to take my side? Where was Sabine?
Where were Constance and Tiffany and Rose? As my eyes searched, I saw that half the people in the vicinity were watching us, while
the other half were looking at their phones. Looking and laughing. Gasping. Pointing at me. Whoever had sent the video had sent it
not only to Noelle, they had sent it to all of Easton. Scorching humiliation rushed through me, burning me from the inside out. My life
was over. I had to get out of here. Now. Stumbling like I was inebriated, I groped my way blearily toward the exit. There were a few
people near the door, getting their coats, and they all shied away from me as if I were somehow contagious. I fumbled through my
purse for my ticket, grabbed my coat, and turned to go. That was when I spotted Constance, standing in the hallway, talking to Marc,
their heads bent together. Relief rushed through me. Constance. Yes. She was my friend. She had always been loyal. She would help
me now. Listen. Understand. "Constance, thank God," I said, walking over to them. "I can't believe this is happening."
When she looked up at me, her face was pale. "I can't believe you did this," she said, her voice weak, her eyes betrayed. "You and
Noelle are supposed to be friends. And you and Josh were still together that night, weren't you? How could you do this to him? To
them? What kind of person are you? " "Wh-what?" I gasped. "Reed, I think you should go," Marc told me firmly. "But, Marc, I-" "Se-
riously, before this gets any uglier than it already has," he said, a look of disgust in his normally kind eyes. They weren't going to for-
give me. Two of the kindest people I knew had no interest in hearing my side. That was when I knew for sure that I had no one. It real-
ly was over. Just like that. From this moment on I would once again be on the outside, looking in.
* * *
Outside, the air was frigid. My tears froze to my face and my skin tightened. My head pounded as if someone was using a sledge-
hammer to find their way through my skull to my brain. I caught the disturbed glances of a few passersby and tried to breathe. I had to
focus. Had to figure out my next move. But I couldn't even remember what street I was on. All my things were back in Noelle's room.
Where was I going to stay tonight? How would I get back to Easton? A yellow cab pulled up at the curb and out stepped Dash McCaf-
ferty. I stared at him like he was some kind of mirage as he paid the driver and turned around. He wore a black coat over his tux, mak-
ing him appear even broader than usual, and his hands were ensconced in black leather gloves. It took a moment for him to see me, but
when he did, he hustled right over.
"Reed, what are you doing out here?" he asked, glancing past me at the door. "I'm so sorry I'm late. There was this whole thing
with my sister and her husband and..." He finally looked at my face. "Crap. Is Noelle really pissed?" , Um, there was the understate-
ment of the millennium. "Dash, she knows," I said shakily. A shadow crossed his face, and I was certain he understood me complete-
ly. Yet he asked, "Knows what?"
"About us. About the Legacy," I said, my voice growing louder and shriller with each word. "They all know." I threw my hand out
toward the door. "Someone videotaped it and just sent it to the entire student body." "What?" He looked at the door again, his face
growing ashen. He started to compulsively grip his hands together. He was contemplating whether or not to go inside. I could tell. Did
he want to face Noelle and her wrath, or would she be even more furious if he never showed? I almost felt sorry for him, having to
face such a dilemma. "I can't believe this is happening," I heard myself say. "Come on." He turned and took my upper arm in his hand,
his grip firm and steadying. "I'm going to get you home." The words were like music to my ears. Someone was on my side. Someone
was willing to help me. But it was the wrong someone. The only someone whose help I could not accept. It took every ounce of
willpower left in my wrecked body to pull away from his comforting warmth.
"No. You can't. I can't be seen with you. Especially not now," I said. "You'd better just go. If anyone sees us out here talking like
this, it'll just make things worse." Dash's jaw clenched. He so wanted to do the chivalrous thing, I knew. That was who he was. "Reed,
I'm so sorry," he said quickly, quietly. "Did you get my e-mail? You never responded." His e-mail. Right. For the first time in days I
wondered what he had said. But then the door behind him opened and out poured a few familiar people from school, all laughing and
carefree. "You have to go, Dash. Please," I begged. Dash glanced at the Easton crowd and rolled his shoulders back. "You're sure
you're okay?" "Yes. Just go." Reluctantly, he turned. My heart panged at the sight of his back, knowing I was letting one of my last
friends leave. "And Dash?" I said. He paused. "Good luck. With her, I mean," I said. His jaw clenched as he turned his head slightly
so that I could see his profile. "You too."
He ducked his head and hurried off down the sidewalk. A stiff wind nearly blew me over and I lifted the collar of my jacket. I
should have taken Dash's cab. Not that I would have known how to pay for it. I'd left my cash back at Easton, thinking I'd have no use
for it this weekend. Stupid, stupid, stupid. "Guess now you know how it feels." My blood curdled at the sound of Ivy's voice. I turned
around and found her standing behind me, bundled into a puffy white fur jacket. God, I could have strangled her. Could have just tak-
en out everything on that skinny neck of hers.
"How what feels?" I said through my teeth. "The dark side of Billings," she said with a knowing s
mile. Slowly, she walked toward
me, her high heels crunching on the sidewalk. "I know you've been asking around about me. Ever heard of the saying 'Curiosity killed
the cat'?" Suddenly a rush of realization warmed my face. Ivy had taken that video. I knew now for sure. She hadn't wanted me to at-
tend the Legacy, had been pissed when I'd let her know I was there. This was her revenge. It had to be. It had to have been her. Her
light blue eyes, so much like Ariana's, bored into mine and I was chilled to the core. What else was this girl capable of? And why did
the city street suddenly seem so very deserted?
"You want to know about me and Billings, Reed? Fine. I'll tell you about me and Billings," she said, placing her hands in her pock-
ets. "Back when we were sophomores, Cheyenne and I were best friends, had been since we were little--but you knew that already,
didn't you? Snoop that you are." My teeth clenched. I wanted to call her out so badly. How dare she act like my snooping was so of-
fensive when she'd been in my room half a dozen times? When she'd been stalking me, torturing me, making me feel trapped in my
own dorm. But I kept my mouth shut. I wanted to hear this. Had to hear this. "She knew she was getting into Billings as a legacy, and
even though I couldn't have cared less, when I got my invite she told me I had to join. We would room together, be Billings Girls to-
gether. She was so excited about it I couldn't say no." Ivy wandered over to an evergreen tree in a planter in front of the building and
reached out to toy with its needles.
"So I went through their stupid hazing rituals for her, stole tests and snuck into the guys' dorms and all that crap, all for her," she
continued, her eyes losing focus as she stared at the tree. "Back then one of their tasks was to break into a house and steal a pre-select-
ed artifact. Cheyenne was a legacy, so they gave her an easy task--go to her own house in Litchfield and bring back Rinnan's Golden
Globe. Simple. So we did it. All the sophomores together. Me and Cheyenne, Rose, Portia, Taylor, Kiran, et cetera, et cetera. We basi-
cally walked right in through the front door and when we came out the juniors and seniors were waiting to congratulate us. But my
task wasn't so simple." She looked at me then. "My task was to break into my grandmother's house with its state-of-the-art security
system and steal a family heirloom. To this day I don't know how they knew about that stupid box, but that was what they wanted."
So it had been a Billings test. That story I'd found had all been the result of hazing. "Were they trying to keep you out?" I heard
myself ask, before I even realized I was going to speak. But I had to know. It was, after all, what Cheyenne had tried to do to Sabine,
Constance, and Lorna earlier this year. "I don't think so," she conceded. "They didn't know about the security. But I knew it was going
to be impossible and I told Cheyenne that. But she wouldn't let me back out. Billings was too important. So we did it. We broke in.
And even though I tried to plan it carefully, we tripped an alarm." She snorted derisively. "That place was like Fort Knox. My father
had insisted on it, since my grandmother had insisted on living alone. I was in my grandmother's room when the alarm went off. Had
that stupid box in my hand and everything when she woke up terrified and keeled over onto the floor, right at my feet."
She had spaced again, looking off into the distance. "All my supposed sisters came in and tried to drag me out of there, but at that
point I was on the floor trying to help my grandmother," she continued. "They were all panicked, so one by one they all fled. Then
suddenly Noelle and Ariana were there, and Ariana was telling me we had to go. The cops were coming. That we were screwed if we
stayed. And Cheyenne was behind them bawling, begging me to go with them. But what was I supposed to do? Leave my grandmoth-
er alone there to die? When it was my fault?" Ivy's eyes shone with unshed tears and she glared at me as if I had been there too. As if I
had been playing Ariana's role, telling her to save her own skin. To save Billings instead of her grandmother. "Noelle kept telling me
that my grandmother would be fine. That the police were already on their way and that they would take care of her. Like she cared,"
Ivy said with a scoff. "But I knew better. I knew she didn't care about anyone but herself. So I told her to go. To get the hell out and
leave me there with my grandma. And you know what? That's exactly what she and the others did. Even Cheyenne."
"She did care," I said flatly, automatically defending Noelle. "She was trying to make sure you didn't get in trouble on top of every-
thing else. It wasn't just about saving herself." "She really has you under her thumb, doesn't she?" Ivy said with an almost sad smirk.
"Did you even hear what I just said? They left me there. Alone. To potentially watch my grandmother die. Cheyenne even grabbed the
silver jewelry box they wanted me to get. It was all about completing the task. All about impressing Billings." I had a sudden flash in
my mind of that box I had found in Cheyenne's room. The silver box with the engraving on the top of the initials V.M.S. That must
have been the box. Ivy's family heirloom. S for Slade. Cheyenne had actually kept it all this time. How had she lived with that thing in
her sight? How had the guilt of what she'd done to her best friend not torn her apart?
"So I was the only one who got arrested that night, though my father had the charges dropped later," Ivy continued, standing up
straight and facing me again. "And last year I went to school in Boston so I could help care for my grandmother, but she was never the
same again. The whole family was relieved when she finally passed on this summer, saying she had gone to a better place, but at the
funeral no one could even look at me. They all blame me, and they should. It's my fault she's gone. Billings's fault." In spite of myself
my heart actually went out to her right then. I couldn't imagine the pain of what she'd been through. How it must have felt to know
what she had done. How awful. How incredibly awful.
"So that, Reed, is why I hate Billings. Why I hate Ariana. Why I hated Cheyenne. Why I still hate Noelle," she said, stepping closer
to me, getting right in my face. "Ariana, she made her own bed, but Noelle... Noelle is still there. Still walking around like she's God's
gift, lording her power over everyone. But I know what she really is. What she's capable of. That's why I'll do anything to see the ivory
tower fall. Anything." A blast of cold shot through me, even though the air was now still. Any sympathy I'd felt for her a second ago
was blown away. Ivy had killed Cheyenne. Cheyenne's parents were right. Their daughter hadn't committed suicide. She had been
murdered. By her former best friend. Suddenly, it all made sense. I already knew Ivy had figured out a way to get into Billings, since
she'd been torturing me for weeks. She must have sneaked in that night and somehow orchestrated Cheyenne's suicide in order to get
back at her for choosing Billings over her, for leaving her there all alone with her ailing grandmother. Then Ivy had decided to release
her venom on me--the house's other leader, the new symbol of Billings. She hated us. Hated all of us. And if that look in her eye was
any indication, she was capable of murder.
And now she had singled out Noelle. What did that mean? Was Noelle her next victim? Was that how she was going to make the
so-called ivory tower fall? The door behind Ivy opened and Josh stepped through, buttoning up the last button on his coat. He glanced
at me quickly, but then looked away, as if
it pained him to look me in the eye. "There you are," he said, slipping his hand into Ivy's.
"You ready to get out of here?" I stared at their entwined fingers. He was holding the hand of a murderer. My Josh. My love. Holding
hands with evil. Ivy looked at me triumphantly, smiled, and said, "Definitely." Josh shot me one last look as they turned to go, but in
my state of miserable panic, I couldn't read it. Was he disappointed? Angry? Sad? Indifferent? I had no idea. All I knew was that I had
to get him away from her. I had to save him. But how? I opened my mouth to speak, to shout some kind of warning, but they were al-
ready ten paces away, and before I could get a word out, Ivy turned her head and looked back at me. She looked back at me with a
flicker in her eye that stopped me dead. A look that scared me so badly it took the breath right out of me. And then they turned at the
corner and were gone. Traffic whizzed by me on the avenue and a cold rain started to fall. Josh was gone. Dash was gone. There was
no one left. No one to tell what I now knew about Ivy. No one to help me figure out what to do. I was in this alone.
Kate Brian, Ambition
(Series: Private # 7)
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