Ariana beamed. April was very accomplished and she had run the meeting like a professional--organized, to the point, succinct but welcoming. Everyone on the staff had hung on her every word. She wasn't going to be wasting anyone's time with a whole lot of flowery debates over whether a piece was worthy for publication or not. Although, as a senior, April was actually two years younger than Ariana, Ariana found herself looking up to the girl as a real junior transfer would have, honored that April was asking for her input.
"That's great. I'll make some notes and bring them next Monday," Ariana replied, tucking the issues into her arms in a neat pile.
"Perfect. Lexa and Soomie were right about you," April said with a smile.
Ariana's heart skipped a beat. "Why? What did they say?"
"Just that you were my kind of girl," April replied, sending a quick text.
Ariana smiled. So maybe the whole "rigid" thing wasn't a curse after all. Maybe it just meant that Ariana was an April kind of girl. And if Lexa and the others were friends with April, then clearly they could accept Ariana the way she was as well.
But she was still going to show them that she wasn't rigid all the time.
"Interesting," April said, pausing and pushing her glasses up again.
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She looked across the circle, where a bunch of people were jogging past the class building toward the boys' dorms beyond. "Wonder what that's all about."
Ariana and April exchanged an intrigued look and followed the crowd. Standing behind Ferrin Hall, the upperclassman dorm, was a huge crowd of students that was growing larger by the second. A few people pointed up at one of the windows on the top floor and Ariana squinted in the waning light of evening to see what had caught everyone's attention.
Finally, her eyes lit on a window that looked different from the others. As she squinted at it, she realized that something was stuffed up against the windowpane.
"Is that what I think it is?" April asked, narrowing her eyes.
Just then, Landon glanced over his shoulder and spotted Ariana. He whacked Adam on the back of the head to get his attention, and the two boys joined them.
"What's going on?" Ariana asked.
"Some genius filled Martin Tsang's room with coconuts," Landon said, laughing. "Literally filled it! There must be a thousand coconuts in there."
"More, actually," Adam said, twisting his lips in thought. "You'd need at least two thousand to fill a standard ten--by--ten dorm room."
"The genius of it is, Tsang hates coconuts," Landon said, still laughing.
"It's true," April confirmed with a nod. "He doesn't just hate them. He's afraid of them."
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"How can you be afraid of coconuts?" Ariana asked, laughing now as well.
"Who knows? Ask Martin Tsang," Palmer answered, joining them. The sound of his voice sent pleasant shivers all through Ariana's body and into her toes. He slung one arm companionably over Ariana's shoulder, the other over April's. This simple touch brought back a thousand vivid memories of Saturday night, and suddenly Ariana's skin was burning. "Little dude freaked out when he opened the door to his room and all those nasty things came rolling out. He's down at the infirmary talking to Dr. Shrinkhead."
"Dr. Shrinkhead," Ariana repeated, trying to appear unaffected.
"His real name's Dr. Brinkshed, but since he's the campus shrink, the nickname wasn't much of a leap," April explained.
"What I want to know is, how the hell did anyone get that many coconuts onto campus and into his dorm in the middle of the day without anyone noticing?" Palmer said, leaning his weight on Ariana and April now, causing Ariana's body heat to skyrocket. "Whoever did this is a criminal mastermind. In fact, I'd like to meet such a per--son.
Something in the way he said it made it absolutely clear to Ariana that he was the mastermind in question. She looked at him and smiled.
"I'd like to meet that person too."
Palmer stood up straight and tugged up on the waistband of his pants. "Who knows, Ana," he said, chucking her under the chin with his fist like an uncle might. "Someday, you just might have that chance."
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Then he turned and loped away, casually producing his baseball from a back pocket and tossing it up and down as he went. Ariana smiled after him, happy in the knowledge she had just gleaned. As Soomie would put it, the facts were these:
A) This was clearly the retaliation against the Fellows that Lexa had spoken of after the toenail incident, which meant that B) Martin Tsang was in the Fellows, and that C) if Palmer had executed the prank, as Ariana was certain he had, then Palmer was definitely in Stone and Grave.
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BACKFIRED
"Looking good!" Ariana said as Brigit teetered by her in her new heels that night. She was sitting in the Wolcott Hall common room with her history books open on the table in front of her, but she hadn't studied much since she'd arrived. She was too busy feeling giddy over the certainty that Palmer was in Stone and Grave. That if she got in--when she got in--they would be brought even closer together. And she was going to get in, because the Allison plan had clearly worked. No one had seen the girl since Mr. Chen had dragged her off to the headmaster's office that morning. Ariana hoped that meant Allison was in serious trouble. Maybe she'd even been thrown out of APH entirely. A girl couldn't get into Stone and Grave if she wasn't even enrolled at the school."I'm glad I look good. Because I feel like I'm about to--" Brigit attempted to turn at the far end of the room and tumbled sideways instead, falling over the back of a vacant chair. "Ow."
"Are you all right?" Ariana asked, jumping up.
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"Fine. I'm fine. I just have to master this before the NoBash, because it's going to be a lot worse if I do that and the only thing around to break my fall is Ambassador Tate and her wheelchair," Brigit said, her face flushing as she stood up straight.
"Yeah. That would be bad," Ariana agreed.
"Oh, by the way, I gave Lillian an invite," Brigit said, taking a tentative step. "She was so excited she hugged me for like five minutes. I thought she was going to pee in her pants."
Ariana swallowed back all the snide remarks she wanted to make and tried to feel the triumph of successfully completing another task. Kaitlynn was going to the NoBash. Ariana's life was safe. For now.
"That's great. She's a sweet girl," Ariana said with some effort.
When she's not cutting off our hair and nails, she added silently.
"Yeah. I like her. I'm glad you invited her on Saturday."
A sudden burst of laughter filled the foyer and Ariana turned around slowly. It couldn't be. It just couldn't.
Allison and Tahira traipsed through the door, falling all over each other in giddiness. Ariana felt as if she were being sucked through some kind of wormhole. What was Allison doing here? And why was she so effing happy?
"What's going on?" Ariana asked.
The two girls stopped in their tracks, falling silent. They glanced around the room, which was dotted with students, then exchanged a look.
"I suppose we could tell you," Tahira said, though she sounded anything but thrilled at the idea. She glanced over her shoulder at the
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theater, then waved for Ariana and Brigit to follow them. As soon as the four girls were safely inside the darkened theater, Tahira and Allison started to giggle all over again. "You guys are going to love this," Tahira said with a trace of sarcasm.
"You know those tasks we got the other night?" Allison whispered, her eyes twinkling in the dim light coming through the windows from the common room. "Well, I just completed mine."
She and Tahira slapped hands. Ariana's heart plummeted. No. This was not possible. Allison was supposed to be disqualified. She was supposed to be out of the running. And now the girl was telling her that she was one step closer to getting in?
"What was it?" Brigit asked.
Allison pulled out her slip of black paper and held it up. "Sabotage a pledge from another secret
society," she said with a grin. "You know that cheat sheet Mr. Chen found this morning? Well, it wasn't mine. And as I was sitting in Jansen's office waiting for her and Chen to finish deliberating, all I could think about was who could have done it, and then I realized . . . Justina Cruz--the girl who bumped into me? She was on Team Blue and I know she's being tapped because of. . . you know . . . her mom--"
"Her mom?" Ariana interrupted.
Tahira gave Ariana a derisive look. "Yeah. Dora Cruz? Hello? What planet are you from?"
Ariana bit her tongue. Dora Cruz was a famous movie star, and apparently the fact that this Justina girl was her daughter was common knowledge at APH. To everyone other than Ariana.
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"Anyway, I told Jansen and Chen that it must have been her. That she was setting me up," Allison continued.
"And they believed you?" Ariana asked.
"They took a second look at the cheat sheet and found some differences between it and Allison's handwriting," Tahira said. "She has this weird dyslexic thing where her sixes are nines and her nines are sixes--"
"And Mr. Chen always gives me a pass on it because he knows I can't control it," Allison interrupted. "So when he saw that all the compounds on the cheat sheet were correct, he figured it out right away."
Tahira looked Ariana directly in the eye. "It was an obvious fake."
Ariana wanted to scream. She'd fixed all those compounds because she thought the girl was an idiot, not a mild dyslexic. This could not be happening. How could her plan to get rid of Allison have worked out in Allison's favor? The room started to spin. This was wrong. This was so very, very wrong.
"Maybe her task was to sabotage me?" Allison said. "Who knows? Whatever the case, they gave her a month's detention and there's no way she's getting in to whatever society wanted her. And ta--da! My task is done!"
She threw her arms over her head and danced in a circle, all proud of herself. Ariana's fingertips twitched, itching to shove her over the back row of seats. Her throat started to close over and her vision began to blur. Allison had completed her task. There were still five of them vying for four open spots. And once again, Ariana's life was at stake. All their lives. Her stomach filled with acidic dread. All that
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work had come to nothing. Nothing. And suddenly, Ariana couldn't breathe.
No. You cannot let them see how this is affecting you. Control, Ariana. Control.
In, one. . . two. . . three. . .
Out, one. . . two. . . three. . .
In, one. . . two. . . three. . .
Out, one. . . two. . . three. . .
"Come on, Allison. Let's go pop open that Taittinger Daddy sent," Tahira said, tugging on her friend's elbow. "We need to celebrate. See you later, ladies!"
She and Allison slipped out, leaving Ariana and Brigit alone. The moment they were gone, Ariana sucked in her first good breath in a long while. She leaned both hands on the back of a theater seat and took another.
"Well. That backfired," Brigit said.
"What backfired?"
Ariana's hand flew to her throat, startled. Lexa was standing in the doorway of the theater, holding it open.
"You scared me," she said.
"Sorry," Lexa replied. "So what backfired?"
"We played a prank on Allison this morning," Brigit replied, leaning back against the rear row of seats and kicking off her heels. She sighed happily as the stilettos hit the floor. "But it looks like she took the lemons and turned them into a lemon--tini."
"Wait a minute, that was you guys?" Lexa said, letting the door
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close behind her. She crossed her slim arms over her chest. "You're the ones who set up the fake cheat sheet?"
"It was Ana's idea," Brigit said helpfully. "We thought we'd have a little fun with her. You know, since she was such a beyotch to Ana when they were living together."
"You're kidding," Lexa said flatly, giving Ariana a scolding look.
"What's the big deal?" Ariana asked. "We were just messing around."
She had thought that, of all people, Lexa would be pleased. She was the one who was apparently so obsessed with getting "Briana Leigh" to loosen up and be like her old self. The one who most likely had decided that Ariana's task should be to make a "spectacle" of herself.
"Just messing around? This is serious stuff! She could have gotten thrown out of school." Lexa's eyes narrowed.
Ariana's face burned. Had she been right all along? Was it a bad thing to try to sabotage another potential member of Stone and Grave? But no. It wasn't possible--Soomie and Maria had practically told her to do it. Unless they were trying to sabotage her. Did they actually want to keep her out? That couldn't be. They were her friends.
Suddenly, Ariana's head hurt from trying to figure out what it all meant, what everyone's motivations were. But one thing was for certain: Lexa did not get to be her moral center. The girl had no idea the sacrifices Ariana was currently making to preserve their friendship and spare her feelings. And to keep everyone on this campus safe.
"She would have ended up at some other good school," Ariana said, lifting a hand. "It's not that big a deal."
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Lexa sighed and shook her head. "Whatever. I'm glad it backfired," she said. "You two totally stepped over the line." She turned around and flung open the door. "I'll see you upstairs."
As the door closed behind her, Brigit gave Ariana a chagrined look. "Wow. She was pissed."
"I don't get it," Ariana said. "I thought she wanted me to loosen up."
Brigit shrugged. "I guess in Lexa's world there's loosening up in a good way and loosening up in a bad way."
Ariana gripped her forearm tightly in her fingers. She couldn't believe Lexa was mad at her. All she was trying to do was protect her. Protect Brigit, Maria, Soomie, Tahira, and Allison too. There was a psychopath out there just waiting to prey on one of them, and Ariana was the only person who could stop her. Every single fiber of her being was focused on trying to stop her.
But she had failed. And now there was no telling what Kaitlynn might do. Whom she might hurt. Because of Ariana's mistakes, someone--most likely someone she cared about--was going to die.
"Ana?" Brigit said, looking worriedly at Ariana's arm. "Are you okay?"
Ariana released her grip. There were four perfectly straight white lines where her fingers had been. The rest of her arm was red from the pressure.
"I have to go," she said, whipping the door open. "I have to get out of here."
It wasn't until she was out in the open air and halfway down the hill that she let the tears flow.
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FAILURES
Ariana was aware of a sharp pain in her leg before she was even aware that she was awake. She swatted at it as she lifted her head and opened her groggy eyes. Her hand hit something hard and she sat up straight. Her heart stopped. She was looking right into the menacing eyes of Kaitlynn Nottingham, and Kaitlynn was holding a steak knife. Red liquid dripped from the tip.Ariana gasped. A puddle of blood had pooled on her sheet, flowing from a small gash across her shin. Suddenly, she was wide awake. She jumped to her feet, knocking Kaitlynn backward with all her might, gritting her teeth to keep from screaming out in rage and pain. Kaitlynn reared backward and tried to grab a desk chair for balance but crashed to the floor on her ass anyway. The knife skittered across the hardwood and came to rest under Ariana's bed.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ariana whisper--shouted. She stood over Kaitlynn, her cut stinging, unable to take even a second to check
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the severity of the wound. She couldn't turn her back on Kaitlynn. Couldn't let her defenses down for even a second. The psycho had finally crossed a line.
Kaitlynn scrambled to her feet and got right in Ariana's face. "That's your brilliant plan? Get Allison caught cheating! What do you think this is, some kind of Disney Channel special?"
"I was trying to get the job done without anyone getting hurt," Ariana repli
ed through her teeth. "See, Kaitlynn, when people get hurt or murdered it kind of draws attention to the situation. And that's the last thing either of us wants."
"You're an idiot," Kaitlynn said, pacing over to her bed. "All you've done is wasted your time and mine. Now I have to figure out a way to off the competition and I only have a few days to do it."
Ariana wanted to scream. She wanted to scream so badly she felt as if her throat, her brain, and her heart were all going to explode.
"Didn't you hear a word I just said?" she hissed. "We cannot have a murder on campus, Kaitlynn. If anyone dies, we all get interviewed. And if you and I get interviewed, they are going to realize the truth about us."
Kaitlynn looked off toward the door. "It's just going to be so hard deciding who has to go," she said, as if she were talking about figuring out which coat to wear. "Although technically, it should be you," she added, gesturing at Ariana. "You're obviously a waste of space."
Groaning in desperation, Ariana grabbed the nearest thing she could find to stanch the bleeding on her leg, which just happened to
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be Kaitlynn's white APH hoodie. She held it over her cut and winced against the pain. Sitting down on her own bed, she held her breath and counted to ten.
"You said I had until Saturday night, remember?" Ariana spoke slowly.
Kaitlynn glanced up. "Yeah. So?"
"So, be patient. I'll take care of it. I still have five days," Ariana said. She carefully removed the sweatshirt. It stuck to the wound for a moment, then peeled away, leaving a trail of sharp pain. Ariana gritted her teeth as she looked over the wound. It was ugly but not too deep. It didn't look as if she would need stitches.
"You'll take care of it," Kaitlynn said dubiously.
"Yes. I said I would, and I will," Ariana replied, though she had absolutely no idea how. All she knew was that she had to protect her friends and herself, whatever the cost.
"Fine. If you say so," Kaitlynn said with a shrug. Then she lay back on her bed and pulled the covers over her, as if nothing more had happened than a quick midnight chat between friends. "Good night, Ariana. Oh, and you owe me a sweatshirt."