So this was what Kiran's wink had meant at the Ryans' house.
Next up was a stunning rose-colored dress, strapless with a full skirt that had a huge cut up one side. The model was showing serious leg, even as the tulle underneath kept the skirt swishing wide.
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Along the slit on either side were huge silk flowers, the same color as the dress, flowing all the way down to the hem and along the edging.
"Mine!" Amberly squealed, raising her hand.
"You're going to have to fight me for it," Taylor called out.
"If Taylor wants it, it's hers," Kiran said.
"Why? That's not fair. I called it first!" Amberly cried.
Kiran leaned forward and arched her eyebrows. "Because it's my party and what I say, goes," she said firmly.
I snorted a laugh. Amberly's jaw dropped, and she sat back with a pout. Such a baby.
The next gown was bright yellow with thick straps that were attached at the center of a bandeau neckline and tied behind the neck. It was very different, like nothing I'd seen at any of the parties I'd been to.
I whistled quietly. "Wow. I really like that. Do you think--"
"No," Noelle said, laying her hand on my arm.
"What? I was just--"
"Do you want your skin to look like cat vomit? No," she said again, shaking her head sagely as the model turned around and sashayed back toward the curtain. "Just no."
An embarrassed blush crept up my neck. One of these days, I was going to have to figure out my colors. It always seemed like everyone knew what would look best on me except me. "Okay. If you say so."
The next model was sporting a sapphire blue one-shouldered
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dress with a layered chiffon skirt. It was so light and airy and elegant that it took my breath away.
"Now that is you," Noelle said, watching the model discerningly as she passed us by. "And I have the perfect necklace to go with it, which I will, in all my benevolence, lend to you if you want it."
My heart skipped a beat when the model struck a pose at the end of the runway. If I could look half that hot, Upton wouldn't be able to take his eyes off of me all night. Across the way, I saw Amberly eyeing the dress with interest.
"Mine!" I shouted, raising both hands. "That's the one I want."
Amberly groaned. "But I--"
"Sorry. She's got dibs," Noelle said.
"No fair!" Amberly wailed.
"You're just going to have to be faster next time," Tiffany said, trying to keep a straight face.
"But when I was fast, you guys overruled me anyway. I don't--"
At that moment, the curtain was flung open and out stepped a big, puffy light-pink princess dress that I wouldn't have been caught dead in even when I was four and obsessed with Sleeping Beauty.
"Mine!" Amberly shouted crazily. "Mine, mine, mine!"
The rest of us laughed as she sat back down, looking quite satisfied with herself. I was fairly certain that no one else wanted the dress.
"This was an amazing idea," Noelle said to me, taking a sip of her wine. "Kiran has totally outdone herself."
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"Seriously. I really am glad I know her now," I joked.
Noelle smiled in a satisfied way. "It gives a whole new meaning to the term 'friends with benefits.'"
"Yes, it does," I said, grinning at the thought of the many benefits I was sure to reap when Upton saw me in my new couture gown.
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CHAPTER 25 FIGMENT
I awoke the next morning to the sound of my sweetly singing bird, the waves crashing in the background, a stiff breeze rustling the reedy leaves on the palm trees outside my window . . . and thoughts of Groton. It was Saturday morning--the last Saturday before Christmas--so right about then my father probably was making pancakes and bacon, shouting at my brother to come down and eat, while my mother was wrapping last-minute gifts on the dusty ping-pong table in the basement. I laughed and pulled my lavender-scented pillow over my face. They would die if they could see where I was.
I made a mental note to call them later.
Shoving the sheets aside, I grabbed my bag of birdseed and placed some on the windowsill next to the bird.
"I picked up a breakfast feast for you."
The bird hopped over to the seed and inspected it for a moment. Then he looked at me, let out a few chirps, and gobbled it up. I rolled
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over on my bed and looked at the blue gown I had selected from the fashion show the night before. This morning, we were all bringing our dresses into town for a fitting with the seamstress whom Vogue had sent down for the Tassos shoot. The dress would be altered to fit me perfectly.
My bird was still eating when Noelle walked in without knocking. Old habits were hard to break, I supposed.
"Rise and shine, Glass-Licker. It's time for our appointments with the seamstress," she said, going straight to the mirror and pushing her thick hair back from her face. In a very out-of-character move for this time of morning, Noelle was already showered, her hair blown dry, and she was dressed in a sleeveless white dress and leather sandals.
"Okay. I'll jump in the shower," I said with a yawn, lying back on my sheets.
"Reed, this is no time to be lazy!" Noelle scolded lightly. She walked over to the end of the bed and pulled on my ankles, yanking me down across the mattress. "Vogue is letting us use their seamstress as a personal favor to Tassos. We can't be late."
"All right, all right."
Just then, the bird finished his meal and started to sing again. Noelle glanced over at the window, noticing him for the first time, and her face screwed up in annoyance.
"That's your bird? He's totally irritating."
"No, he's not!" I protested, sitting up. "I love him."
"Oh my God, you're such a loser," Noelle said with a laugh. "All I
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know is that if I had to wake up to that every morning, I'd be committing bird-i-cide."
I arched my brows. "Bird-i-cide? Really?"
"Don't judge me. It's early," she said. "Now get the hell up."
The bird suddenly squawked and took off, as if something had startled him. My heart hit my throat, and I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Something outside the window, down on the beach below. My stomach churning with nerves, I jumped up and placed my hands on the windowsill, craning my neck to see out.
"What's the matter?" Noelle asked, coming up next to me.
"I swear there was someone out there," I said. "Someone was staring at my window, and they spooked the bird."
Noelle stood on her tiptoes and looked up and down the beach in both directions. The bushes just outside blocked some of the view, making it impossible to see very far. "Reed, there's no one there."
"Maybe I just imagined it," I said lightly, stepping back from the window.
But I knew I had seen something--someone. A chill raced down my back, and I hugged my arms. Had someone been watching us? Was someone spying on me? And if so, who could it have been? And why?
"Come on. Shower time," Noelle said, grabbing my shoulders and steering me toward the bathroom.
"I'm on it," I told her, thinking the warm water might help me clear my mind. Make me realize it had all been a figment of my imagination. Because one thing I did not want for Christmas was a stalker.
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CHAPTER 26 RELATIONSHIP NUANCES
By mid-afternoon on Sunday, I had made a serious decision about the rest of my life.
I did not want to be a model.
These poor girls. Kiran and the rest of the models spent the entire day on the beach, half clothed, with men they didn't know splashing water on them. The meager clothing they did have on was pinned in a million places, and the pins looked like they were jabbing into their skin whenever they moved. Half their time was spent waiting and shivering in the surprisingly cool breeze coming off the ocean while Tassos and Tiff fixed the lighting or checked the exposure or adjusted some m
eter or another. When craft services showed up with lunch-heaps and heaps of salads and sandwiches and pastries--all they consumed was water. I think I saw Kiran eat a slice of cucumber, but she did it so fast I couldn't be sure.
Meanwhile, Noelle, Taylor, Amberly, and I all sat on a flat gray rock
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in the sand, chowing down on chicken salad and coffee and watching the proceedings. I, for one, was bored. The whole thing had been glamorous and exciting for the first half hour--the gorgeous people, the racks of expensive clothing, the makeup and hair artists at the ready with their tool belts full of products--but really, it was just a lot of standing around.
With all the downtime, my thoughts kept wandering back to that blur I'd seen outside my window the previous morning. Had someone really been there, or had I just been acting paranoid? I so wished I could rewind my life to check what I'd missed, the way I could on the Billings parlor DVR. As two of the models began posing in ankle-deep water, each wearing mod bathing suits made up of skinny spandex strips taped to their bodies in strategic places, Noelle nudged me with her elbow, waking me from my thoughts.
"You can see that girl's entire nipple," she whispered.
"Which one?" I asked, squinting.
"The one on our left," Taylor put in. "It's so obvious. Right through the bathing suit."
I looked away. "Ew. This isn't SI."
"SI? " Amberly asked.
"Sports Illustrated," I clarified with a sneer.
"You don't have to be so condescending all the time," Amberly said, shifting her position. "Like knowing Sports Illustrated is something to be haughty about anyway."
"I'm condescending?" I hissed, leaning forward so I could see her past Noelle. "Who's the person who spent an entire week talking
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down to me, tossing dry-cleaning bills at my feet, calling me Glass-Licker and--oh wait, I almost forgot--trashing my room and stealing from me?"
Amberly's eyes went wide. "I asked you for those things, and you wouldn't give them to me! What was I supposed to do?"
"Oh, I don't know, how about not breaking into my room and destroying half my stuff? " I shouted.
"Ladies! Ladies! You two are going to need to kiss and make up," Noelle said, lacing together her fingers and resting them on her lap. "Because there is only one vacancy in Billings next semester and guess what--it's in Amberly's room."
Wait. Noelle expected me to live with Amberly? In the room I used to share with Sabine? Why not just lock me in the house with the psycho neighbor from Disturbia and leave me there?
"You want us to live together? " Amberly blurted, spilling iced coffee on her exposed toes. She quickly wiped it up and tucked the wet napkin in the pocket of her silk cardigan.
"Can't I live with Constance?" I asked, my hands pressing into the cold, hard rock on either side of me. "I'm sure that Amberly, as a freshman, wouldn't mind splitting the triple with Kiki and Astrid."
"No way! I am not living in a triple!" Amberly protested. "Constance can come live with me."
"Well, isn't this interesting?" Noelle said, tossing back her hair and taking a sip of her coffee. "Looks like you two both have a reason to kiss my ass for the next few days."
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Taylor laughed as Amberly and I glared at each other. Noelle could not be serious. But she sure looked serious. I couldn't believe it. Noelle was pitting me against Amberly?
"You guys! Dad's calling it a wrap! Do you want to take some pictures?" Tiffany called out, her oversize white shirt billowing in the breeze from down by the water.
"Definitely!" Noelle replied with a grin. She turned to pick up her plate and cup, but Amberly pounced on them.
"I'll get those for you!" she said with a smile.
"Well, thank you, Amberly," Noelle replied.
Amberly shot me a narrow-eyed look of triumph and walked off toward the garbage can next to the craft service table. I jogged after Noelle, who was already on her way to the makeup area--two chairs set up in front of huge mirrors lodged in the white sand.
"You're not really going to make me compete with her, are you? " I asked. "I'm a junior. I used to be president of the house. And you like me better!"
"All of that may be true, but you both want the same thing, and there has to be a fair way to decide who gets it," Noelle said as she sat in the first makeup chair.
"So whoever does more crap for you over the next few days gets to live with Constance, and whoever doesn't has to live in the triple?" I said. "How is that fair?"
"It's fair because I'm the president of Billings now, and I say it's fair," Noelle replied. "What could be more Billings than a good old-fashioned competition?"
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Taylor smirked as she slipped into the second chair and pushed back her curls behind her ears.
"Gome on, Glass-Licker. It'll be fun," Noelle said. "Just like old times."
"Yeah. Way fun," I said sarcastically.
Noelle shot me an admonishing look, and then glanced at the hovering makeup artist. "I'm thinking earth tones for the eyes. Reed, would you mind getting me a bottle of water? I'm parched."
I took a deep breath and let it out. I could just walk away. Tell her to shove it. Living in Pemberly wasn't all bad. .. .
Oh, who was I kidding? I hated Pemberly. And I was not about to share a triple. No way, no how.
"Fine. Water it is."
"With a squeeze of lemon," Noelle said, raising a finger. "Just a squeeze."
I trudged past Taylor, who giggled and sang the word "freedom" under her breath. I paused for a second to glare at her.
"What? I'm sorry, but you totally walked into that one," she said, earning a pleased smile from Noelle.
It was all I could do to keep from dunking Taylor's face into the huge vat of powder on the counter in front of her. I had thought that Noelle and I were friends now. Equals. But Taylor was, unfortunately, right. If there was one constant with Noelle, it was that she lived for power, and Amberly and I had just dangled the perfect opportunity for power right in front of her salivating choppers.
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CHAPTER 27 THE FOOTLOCKER ON THE FUTURE
I managed to avoid morphing into Noelle's slave by hanging out only with Upton for the next few days. We went for a hike to a gorgeous, secluded waterfall and explored some frigidly cold caves. We lay out in the sand, occasionally reading to each other when something seemed too good to keep to ourselves. We ate most of our meals on the beach just the two of us, avoiding Shutters and the crew-related drama.
And we made out. A lot. Pretty much everywhere we went. It was next to impossible to keep from kissing him, and he seemed to feel the same way about me.
Being with Upton kept me from thinking about a lot of things I probably would have been obsessing about otherwise. Like the Amberly situation, the Josh situation, the stalker situation. Luckily, there were no more disturbing feelings of being watched. I didn't know if Upton's constant presence at my side had scared off the
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stalker, or if I had just imagined the whole thing. Either way, I was more than fine with it being over.
Finally, on Christmas Eve, I met Upton's parents. Not because we were at that stage in our relationship or anything, but because every year the Giles family welcomed the entire group and their families to their home for Christmas Eve dinner. So there I was, in a red flutter-sleeved wrap dress I'd borrowed from Kiran, meeting my vacation fling's parents on one of the biggest holidays of the year.
Or was he my vacation boyfriend now? Did saving my life make him my boyfriend? In that case, Josh was my boyfriend, too. And he definitely was not my boyfriend. He was Ivy's. So by that logic, Upton was still just a fling.
And my brain was starting to hurt.
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Giles," I said, offering my hand to the tall blond woman with a gazelle-like neck. She wore a white cashmere turtleneck sweater, black thin-wale corduroys and red velvet shoes, as if we were snowbound in the northeast rather than
kicking back in the islands. They even had the AC jacked up to arctic levels, so that those of us who had dressed climate appropriately were starting to get goose bumps. Apparently the Giles family really wanted to pretend it was a white Christmas. At least Mrs. Giles's smile was genuinely warm as she shook my hand, her chunky gold bracelet sliding up and down her thin wrist.
"The pleasure is all mine, Reed. Upton can't seem to stop talking about you," she said. " I feel I know you as well as a character in a novel I've read a hundred times."
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"Is that a good thing?" I asked with a laugh.
"Considering that Upton rarely talks about any of his friends with us, I'd say it's a very good thing," his father chimed in, taking a sip from his mug of hot cider. With his balding head; small, square glasses; and full tweed suit and tie, he looked like the stereotype of a college professor.
"Thanks for that, Father," Upton said.
Mr. Giles lifted his glass again in acknowledgment.
"Come on, Reed, let's go in by the fire," Upton suggested, putting his arm around me. "Stop my parents from embarrassing me further."
Mr. and Mrs. Giles laughed good-naturedly as we walked away. That had gone well. At least they hadn't treated me the way Mrs. Ryan had. We walked by Noelle and Kiran, who were standing with their parents and Taylor, chatting and laughing. Noelle shot me an approving look, as if congratulating me on charming the elder Gileses. I smiled back and just hoped that she wouldn't make me fetch any drinks for her or run back to the house to get her a sweater. That could be embarrassing.