Ambition

too." I managed a tight smile for her benefit. "Maybe. Just not tonight, okay? Right now all I want to do is sleep." "Okay," Sabine said

  finally. "I'll go tell them." "Thanks." Sabine slipped out and closed the door with a quiet click. Part of me felt guilty for bailing on my

  friends, but it was just one night. I could think about all of this tomorrow--about the fund-raiser and the black marbles and Dash and

  Noelle and Josh and Ivy and everything else. Right now, I craved only the sweet release of sleep.

  HUNTER BRADEN

  The black marbles were still there in the morning. I had hoped to find when I woke up that they were just one of the many sick,

  swirling dreams I had all night long, but when I opened the drawer, there they were. Not a figment of my subconscious, but real. Un-

  willing to dwell on the circumstances of how they had gotten there, I gathered them all up, shoved them into a lone sock that had lost

  its partner, and deposited the whole thing in the back of my bottom dresser drawer. After all, I might need them at the end of the year

  when we voted on new members for the house. If, of course, the house lasted that long.

  It didn't matter how the black marbles had wound up in my possession--who might have put them in my desk. It didn't. Today was

  a new day. A new start. I had to focus. There was no time to dwell. No time to freak myself out. I showered, downed some more

  Tylenol to take the edge off my stubbornly clinging headache, and dressed up for my first day as Single Reed. In-Charge Reed. A

  Reed with a Purpose. Black skirt, black boots, light blue V-neck sweater. I was going to show the world that my breakup wasn't get-

  ting to me--even though every time I thought about it, I felt like collapsing into a heap on the floor. At breakfast, I strolled over to my

  usual table with Constance, Sabine, and Kiki in tow and waited for them to settle in among the rest of the Billings Girls. Then I placed

  my tray at the end of the table and forced a bright smile. "Everyone, I have an idea." Silence fell. Kiki took the earbuds out of her ears.

  I noticed for the first time that her bangs were no longer pink. Instead, her blond hair was streaked with royal blue.

  "Do tell," Noelle said, looking up at me as she tore off a chunk of her bagel. "We should hold the fund-raiser in New York," I an-

  nounced. The Billings Girls murmured in excitement and tired eyes brightened all around our two tables. My heart fluttered with

  pride. "Most of the Easton alumni live there or close by, so why not bring the party to the money?" I suggested. "Absolument!" Sabine

  exclaimed. "I have always wanted to visit New York!" "It's perfect," Tiffany chimed in. "And we should definitely do it before

  Thanksgiving," I added as I took my seat across from Noelle. "Before everyone starts jetting off on their holiday vacations."

  "Reed, you are so brill," Portia said with a smile. "But that's less than three weeks," Missy, or Miss Negative, put in from behind

  me. All I wanted to do was turn around and yank on her braid, but it was way too kindergarten. "We can pull it off," Noelle told her.

  "My mom and I organized my dad's fiftieth in less than a week. We always forget his birthday until the last minute," she added,

  rolling her eyes. "And he's such a baby if he doesn't get his party."

  I smirked. I had never met Noelle's parents, but I imagined her father as a Daddy Warbucks type, all bluster and bravado. So some-

  how, thinking of him getting pouty over a party amused me. "Reed Brennan," a silky male voice said at my side. I looked up into the

  stunning blue eyes of Hunter Braden, the number one most sought after guy on the Easton campus. Every single girl at my table minus

  Noelle blushed at the very sight of him. His tousled blond hair, chiseled cheekbones, and rumpled-prep style had been splashed over

  all of New York's favorite rags at the end of last year when he'd briefly dated a certain hotel magnate's daughter and disappeared with

  her for several days to some remote island I had never heard of. Ever since, all the gossip on campus had been about whom he'd date

  next. "Hunter," I replied as coolly as possible, even though I could feel my face overheating. Even my broken heart was not immune

  to his gorgeousness and charm. He was wearing a wrinkled Ralph Lauren oxford in light blue, with a yellow and navy striped tie casu-

  ally loosened around his neck--and pulling the look off like nobody's business. Two books were hooked in his fingers at his side. No

  one had ever seen Hunter with anything so prosaic as a book bag.

  "I want to take you out," he said with an almost irresistible smile. "This weekend." Someone behind me literally gasped. Noelle's

  eyes widened across the table. I was so stunned I couldn't even speak. Then Vienna kicked my shin so hard I saw stars. Damn pointed-

  toe boots. "Um." Ow. "That's really nice, but... can I let you know later?" I feared the pain Vienna might inflict upon me if I gave him

  an outright no. Besides, it never hurts to play hard-to-get, right? Hunter appeared confused. Most likely no one had ever done anything

  but blurt an emphatic yes to one of his offers. "Excuse me?" he said. "Well, it's just..." I just broke up with the love of my life. I wasn't

  sure I was ready to start dating. Especially not someone like Hunter Braden. Somehow I knew the experience of going out with him

  would be overwhelming even if I wasn't on the rebound.

  "I have so much to do right now with the fund-raiser and everything.... I just have to... check my schedule," I rambled. "Thanks for

  asking, though." I could feel the poisonous looks of every one of my friends boring into my skin from all angles. How dare I put off

  Hunter Braden? Hunter, however, simply smiled. "You check that schedule of yours." He took a couple steps backward and spread his

  arms out at his sides as if to give me a good look at what I'd be missing if I said no. "You know where to find me." He turned on his

  heel and strode off toward the Ketlar tables, the eyes of every non-geriatric female in the room trained on him. Vienna pulled back and

  kicked me again, right in the same spot.

  "Vienna! Ow!" I said through my teeth, rubbing my leg. "Do I have to start wearing my shin guards to breakfast?" "What the hell

  was that?" London demanded, tossing her fork down with a clatter. "What? Guys, I told you. I am not ready to go out with anyone

  right now," I said. "Hunter Braden is not 'anyone,'" Portia hissed, leaning across the table. "Hunter Braden is..." She turned her palms

  up and searched the skylights in the high ceiling as if God might provide a word worthy enough to describe him. "He's Hunter

  Braden." "Exactly," Vienna said. "Besides, Reed, the best way to get over a breakup is to A, get back on the horse and B, make it a su-

  per-hot horse so that C, the last horse gets very, very jealous." "And there is no horse hotter than Hunter," Tiffany put in from a few

  seats down. Wow. Even levelheaded Tiff was behind this. Did no one understand what it was like to lose the love of your life?

  "I appreciate the concern, you guys, as disturbing as the horse metaphor is," I said, spearing a strawberry with my fork. "But I'd

  rather focus on saving Billings. You do realize that if we don't figure out how to raise five million dollars in the next month, life as we

  know it is history. We're talking no more Billings, no more Friday night movies and mojitos, no more Fat Phoebe parties, no more

  Billings alumni-funded outings... nothing. We'll be living in, like, Pemberly or something."

  My friends all exchanged serious glances and I knew that I had, at least for the moment, gotten their attention. For the rest of the

  period, we discussed ideas for the fund-raiser and I forced myself not to look over at
the Ketlar table. Not to look at Josh or at Hunter

  Braden. I can't say I wasn't intrigued by Hunter's proposal. He was practically a celebrity. But he wasn't Josh. I didn't want anyone

  who wasn't Josh. I was still clinging to the hope that Josh might wake up one morning and forgive me. Might realize that I was beyond

  drunk that night and that technically I couldn't be held responsible for my actions. Just like I hadn't held him responsible for his ac-

  tions with Cheyenne, because he had been drugged. Yes, I had fantasized about being with Dash before it had happened, but Josh

  didn't know that. Therefore, he could not hold it against me. He could, however, hold a date with Hunter Braden against me. As we

  moved on to the chapel for morning services, I grabbed Rose and pulled her aside just outside the cafeteria doors. We hung back until

  all our housemates had strolled on, caught up in their own conversations.

  "Everything okay, Reed?" she asked, ducking her head slightly so that her red curls fell forward over her cheeks. Rose was one of

  the more discreet girls in Billings and I knew she was intimately aware of how everything worked. At the moment she was the only

  person I felt comfortable asking what I had to ask. What I had been wanting to ask all through breakfast. "Just a random question," I

  said under my breath. "You know all that stuff we used for the inner-circle ritual--the lantern and the... the marbles and everything?"

  "Yeah?" Rose looked surprised. "Where do we keep all that stuff?" I asked. "Is it in the basement somewhere, or..."

  Rose blinked. "Actually, I think Cheyenne had all that stuff in her room. Crap, I never even thought of that. It must have gotten

  boxed up and sent home with her parents." Not all of it. I swallowed against my suddenly dry throat. Cheyenne had the black marbles?

  Cheyenne? Then how the hell had they gotten into my desk drawer over the weekend? Cheyenne's parents had carted away her things

  weeks ago. Unless someone had lifted them before then. Had someone been planning to do this all along? And if so, who? "I guess

  we'll have to replace all of that before the end of the year," Rose mused with a shrug, not knowing that the info she had imparted was

  causing me to have major heart palpitations. "Great. Where are we supposed to find a lantern like that?" "Not a clue," I replied. Al-

  though maybe it would just appear in my room somewhere.

  CREME DE LA CREME

  After an intense soccer practice and a hot shower I was feeling almost normal. Definitely lighter. Somewhat positive, even. I could

  do this. I could live without Josh. Sure, the dread I had felt all day at the possibility of bumping into him around every turn had taken

  its toll, but the exercise and scrub-down had rejuvenated me. For the first time all day, I felt able to breathe.

  As I slipped into my navy blue Easton Academy sweats and brushed my damp hair, I realized something was off. It was too quiet.

  Way too quiet. Normally at this time of night, London and Vienna were blasting that annoying club music they loved, Constance was

  in the hall blabbing to Whit on her cell, and Missy and Lorna were running in and out of their room to Portia's or the Twin Cities',

  slamming doors every five seconds. But right now there was nothing. Total silence. Considering everything that had been going on

  lately, my pulse raced with trepidation. Anything out of the ordinary had the potential for disaster. I put my brush down on my dresser

  and opened the door quietly, peeking my head out. Nothing. No one. Where were they? "Sabine? Noelle?" I called out. "Constance?"

  No response. Okay. There was a logical explanation for this. Maybe they had all gone over to Coffee Carma in Mitchell Hall. Or

  everyone was downstairs studying. Yes. That was it. All I had to do was go downstairs and there they'd be. I crept out of my room and

  tiptoed down the stairs, realizing how silly I would have looked to anyone who spotted me, but there was no one there to see. Nothing

  but the dead silence. I hit the floor of the lobby, saw something move out of the corner of my eye, and froze. "Surprise!"

  My heart hit my throat, but two seconds later relief washed over me. The entire population of Billings was gathered in the parlor,

  champagne glasses raised. Silver bowls of strawberries and trays of chocolates were laid out on every table. Fifteen faces grinned at

  me as I joined them. "What's going on?" I asked. "Reed Brennan, it's time to play Find Your Rebound!" Vienna announced, shoving a

  filled champagne flute into my hand. "Find my what?" I asked. "We couldn't think of a good name for it," Noelle said, rising graceful-

  ly from her chair at the crux of the seating U. "Basically, we are going to help you find a man to distract you in your time of need."

  She lifted a hand toward the wall behind me and I turned to find that the old group shots of Billings sisters had been cleared away,

  replaced by three huge corkboards. On each corkboard were several glossy eight-by-ten photos of various Easton guys, and below

  each photo was an index card displaying the subject's vitals: name, age, class rank, hometown, net worth. The really important stuff.

  "Someone absolutely perfect," Sabine added with a grin, standing next to me.

  "What are you guys talking about?" I asked warily. "You're not all going to start theorizing about horses again, are you? " Every-

  one laughed. Spirits were high, considering we were under such strict probation. In fact, the last thing we should have been doing right

  then was drinking champagne out in the open like this. If Mrs. Naylor, our housemother, found us, we were screwed. "Naylor's out for

  the night," Noelle told me, noticing my wary glance over my shoulder. "Just sit and relax and have some chocolate." She steered me

  around the end of the couch where Constance, Kiki, and Astrid were sitting, and deposited me in the chair she had vacated. Rose lifted

  a tray of chocolates and offered it to me. I took one and bit into it. Sweet caramel oozed into my mouth. This I could get used to.

  "Now, here's how this is going to work," Vienna explained, walking over to the board of boys as Sabine squeezed back onto the

  couch. "Each one of us has selected an Easton bachelor for you to evaluate. Our goal for the evening is to rank these guys in order of

  desirability for you--" "And then you can go forth and conquer!" London finished, lifting her glass to the whoops of the crowd. I

  squirmed in the cushy chair. "You guys, I already told you. I'm not ready to... conquer anyone." All I could think about when I looked

  at those photos was how many of those guys were Josh's friends--his housemates. And how he was out there on campus right now--out

  there somewhere hating me. The very thought sent a sliver of glass through my heart. How was I even supposed to look at another

  guy? "Reed, come on, this is exactly the distraction you need," Sabine said earnestly, placing her glass down and scooting forward on

  the love seat. She grabbed my hands and champagne sloshed over the side of my flute. 'You're going to save Billings for us. Let us do

  this for you."

  I looked into her big green eyes and realized that she sincerely thought this would work. In fact, everyone there was eyeing me with

  hope. Aside from Missy, of course, who was inspecting her fingernails. All they wanted to do was cheer me up. What harm could

  there be in humoring them? So I would let them rank these guys according to desirability. It wasn't as if I had to put said list to use.

  "Okay, fine," I said finally. "Yay!" Constance cheered, as a few people clapped in glee. "Portia? Would you like to present your pick

  first? " Vienna asked, stepping aside. Portia rose and walked over to the board, stopping in front of a ph
oto of a smiling guy with long

  black hair and a big, Cheshire cat grin. Dominic Infante. He had lived next door to Thomas and Josh last year. I had the distinct recol-

  lection of seeing him in boxers one night when I walked by his room. Not a half-bad body.

  "We all know who Dominic Infante is," Portia began, clasping her hands one atop the other, as if she were a professor presenting a

  lecture. "But few know, because of his innate modesty, that he is a direct descendant of the princes of Italy...." "Ohhh," my friends in-

  toned as they sipped their champagne and nibbled on their strawberries. As she continued her speech, my eyes roamed the board, curi-

  ous who my other dorm mates had chosen. I spotted Hunter Braden smirking out at me. And Trey Prescott. (Josh's roommate? Seri-

  ously?) And Jason Darlington, a cute guy who was in most of my classes. Most of the elite guys of Easton were represented, and I

  couldn't help but feel flattered that my housemates thought me worthy of the creme de la creme. Things certainly had changed since

  my Glass-Licker days.

  Then my eyes fell on another familiar face at the far end of the board. Marcellus "Marc-For-Short" Alberro. I blinked, surprised.

  Marc was cute, no doubt, but not the kind of guy I would have expected a Billings Girl to select. He was too fidgety, too garrulous,

  too... well, short. I squinted at the card beneath his sheepishly smiling face and recognized the loopy handwriting instantly. Constance.

  Of course. Why was I not surprised? When it came to priorities, Constance was not your average Billings Girl. "And that accent?"

  Portia was saying. "Molto sexy!" The girls around me all swooned and laughed knowingly, and I finally realized this might actually

  be fun. So I relaxed into my chair. Relaxed into the moment. Into a night without drama.

  ONLY HUMAN

  "Why the hell did you pick Trey? " I asked Noelle as we emerged from the breakfast line Wednesday morning. "Did you really

  think I could go out with Josh's roommate?" "Of course not. That's exactly why I chose him," Noelle whispered. "I had to pick some-

  one, but I know as well as you do that you're not ready for a relationship. So why not pick someone whom everyone would eventually

  have to agree was no good?" I smiled at her. Always thinking, that Noelle.

  We took seats at our table, where everyone else had already gathered, but I found that I couldn't relax. Every time the dining hall

  door opened, I flinched. I forced myself not to look up each time, but would glance over casually a moment later to check who had en-

  tered. If my friends had thought their game of Find Your Rebound would make me forget about Josh, they were mistaken. Of course,

  they had forgotten about him entirely. My fifteen bachelors were the number one topic of breakfast conversation. "I can't believe you

  guys ranked Marc fifteenth," Constance said despondently, pushing her oatmeal around with her spoon. "I mean, you don't even know

  him." "Exactly. And that's strike number one," Noelle replied. "No one here has ever talked to him but you. What does that tell you

  about him? " Constance's shoulders sank. She looked like a little kid who'd just been told her new puppy was hit by a car.