Part 6 (2/2)

”OmiG.o.d, enough. Reed! You have to shut her up,” Vienna said Then she shoved me for ward so hard I almost tripped into the stairs that led to the stage. Tiffany couldn't have looked more relieved to see me, but Ivy simply smirked. ”Oh, look, it's Reed Brennan, president of Billings,” she said as she sneered down her nose at me. ”I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm dying to hear what she has to say in her defense.” Hundreds of pairs of eyes turned to me. I was frozen in terror. ”Come on up, Reed! What are you waiting for?” Ivy descended two steps, grabbed my arm, and dragged me up next to her, practically dislocating my shoulder. She shoved the microphone into my hand and stepped back. A cold sweat broke out all over my body. I stared out at the crowd, but all I could see were Josh's lips on Ivy's, Cheyenne's dead body on the floor, her name in my in-box ten thousand times over, the note, the black marbles, the perfume bottle, the stain on the sleeve of the pink sweater. All of it. All of it reeled through my mind at a sickening speed. I was so dizzy, so disoriented, so confused, I actually reached for Ivy for support, but she flinched away and I almost went down. ”Oops. I think our hostess might be a little buzzed,” Ivy shouted, amused. Somehow I righted myself, but the laughter her comment elicited stung every inch of my skin. What was I doing here? Why were all these people looking to me? I didn't belong here. I was n.o.body. I was just a loser from Pennsylvania who had been dumped and stalked and nearly driven out of my mind This was it. This was where it all fell apart. ”I'm sorry,” I blurted out of nowhere. ”I'm sorry, I--” And then a strong hand came down on my shoulder. I sensed it was Noelle before I even saw her. She reached around me, slipped the microphone right out of my hand, and stepped to the front of the stage. ”Thank you, Ivy, for the unplanned entertain ment,” she began with a smile, coaxing out a few laughs from the crowd. ”For those of you who don't know me, I'm Noelle Lange, and I am a senior at Easton Academy and at Billings House. I just want to go on the record as saying that almost everything Ivy has just told you... is true.”

There were a few gasps and some stunned silence. No one was expecting that. I stepped back and hugged my now freezing-cold arms. Watched her as if I was watching a film, a play-something from which I was completely detached. ”Our living arrangements were put in jeop ardy due to some unfortunate incidents earlier this year, true, and it is also true that we asked Headmaster Cromwell for a second chance,” Noelle continued. ”He agreed that the best way for us to prove our loyalty to Easton would be for us to throw a fund-raiser for the school and so, here we are. Just to clear things up, you should know that any money you donate this evening will be going directly to the Easton Academy board of trustees, to be used at their dis cretion. Billings will have no further involvement with the funds.” She glanced at Ivy, who looked angry enough to spit. But she stayed where she was, as if waiting for her next open ing. Not that Noelle was about to give her one. ”Now, as for the accusations about the behav ior of the Billings Girls, all I can say is, Ivy is right,” Noelle continued. ”We have, in the past, used our power and position on campus to get the things we wanted, but all that has changed this year. This year's new house members were chosen by the administration, not by the res idents of Billings. They were chosen for their academic merit, their service to the school, their morals and standards. They are the best of what Easton has to offer.”

She looked down at our friends, who had now gathered in front of the stage, like a mother hen looking down at her freshly hatched chicks. ”They deserve a chance to make Billings what it should be,” Noelle continued. ”They shouldn't have to pay for the crimes, whether real or perceived,” she said, pointedly looking at Ivy, ”of those of us who came before. ”They are the new Billings, and the new Billings is about sisterhood, about strength, about doing what's right and putting forth the best image we can for Easton,” Noelle continued. ”That's where your hard-earned money is going tonight. To building a better Billings, a better Easton, a bet ter future.” She paused and looked around the room, driving her message home to each and every member of her audience. ”Are you really going to let one misguided party crasher get in the way of all that?” she asked, lifting a blithe hand toward Ivy. The laughter and applause filled the room this time, and we all knew. We all knew that Noelle had won. She handed the microphone to Tiffany, who quickly squirreled it away. Ivy simply stood there, arms crossed in an indignant pose, until she finally shook her head and made her retreat. The cheers were still echoing in my head when Noelle turned to me. There was no way to express the force of grat.i.tude that was surging through my weakened body.

”Noelle, thank you so much,” I gushed, a tear spilling down my cheek. ”I didn't know what to do. I--” ”Well, Gla.s.s-Licker. Looks like I've saved your little fund-raiser twice now,” Noelle in terrupted, her eyes flas.h.i.+ng. ”I guess you were right all along. This is my house.” I felt like she had just slapped me across the face. ”What?” I gasped. Noelle looked me up and down like I was some pile of dog doo she'd just stepped in, and strode right past me. What was going on? Had she planned this all along? Had she booked the St. Sebastian behind my back? Did she have the makeover and photo shoot plan up her sleeve from the beginning? Sabine was right. Noelle had been working against me. And I had let her in. I had let myself believe she cared about me--that we were friends. But Noelle had no idea what it meant to be a friend. All she cared about was herself. ”How could you?” I blurted, whirling around. ”How could you do this to me?” Noelle paused and half turned. She had her iPhone in her hand and shook her head, laughing as she looked 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 almost 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 de manded, trembling with anger. ”G.o.d, to think I called you my sister!” she spat. ”You're nothing but a back-stabbing, lying s.l.u.t!” 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, ap proaching her with tears streaming down my face. ”h.e.l.l, yeah, you're sorry,” Noelle replied un der 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 s.h.i.+t up and hop the next train back to Cro ton, 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 s.h.i.+ed 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, talk ing 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. ”Con stance, thank G.o.d,” 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-” ”Seriously, 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 forgive 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 really was over. Just like that. From this moment on I would once again be on the out side, 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 sledgehammer to find their way through my skull to my brain. I caught the disturbed glances of a few pa.s.sersby 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 McCafferty. 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, making him appear even broader than usual, and his hands were en sconced in black leather gloves. It took a moment for him to see me, but when he did, he hus tled right over.

”Reed, what are you doing out here?” he asked, glancing past me at the door. ”I'm so sor ry I'm late. There was this whole thing with my sister and her husband and...” He finally looked at my face. ”c.r.a.p. Is Noelle really p.i.s.sed?” , Um, there was the understatement of the millennium. ”Dash, she knows,” I said shakily. A shadow crossed his face, and I was certain he understood me completely. 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 in side. 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. G.o.d, I could have strangled her. Could have just taken 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 smile. 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 attend the Legacy, had been p.i.s.sed 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 capa ble 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 pockets. ”Back when we were soph.o.m.ores, 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 offensive 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 together. 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 c.r.a.p, 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-selected 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 soph.o.m.ores together. Me and Cheyenne, Rose, Portia, Taylor, Kiran, et cetera, et cetera. We basically walked right in through the front door and when we came out the juniors and seniors were waiting to congrat ulate 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 want ed.”

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 grand mother'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 s.p.a.ced 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 grandmoth er,” 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 grandmother 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 her self. So I told her to go. To get the h.e.l.l 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 everything else. It wasn't just about saving herself.” ”She re ally 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 com pleting 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 actual ly 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 pa.s.sed 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 actu ally 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 G.o.d'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 sui cide. She had been murdered. By her former best friend. Suddenly, it all made sense. I al ready 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, b.u.t.toning up the last b.u.t.ton 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 fin gers. 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? An gry? 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 already 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 cor ner 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.

end.

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