Elite Ambition (11 page)

Heather, Brit, and I dismounted. We walked our horses in large, lazy circles in the arena until they were cool and
dry. Heather waved at both of us as she took Aristocrat out of the arena. I walked Charm for a few more minutes before deciding it was time to groom him.

“See you tonight,” I said to Brit.

“Bye,” she said.

 12 

LIAR, LIAR

“THAT'S COOL THAT YOU'RE MEETING BRIT for pizza,” Paige said, half yelling. I was drying my hair, and she was flatironing hers.

“It'll be fun,” I said. I turned off the hair dryer and starting pulling my hair into sections to flatiron it. “It's like I've known her forever, and we keep finding out that we have more in common than we thought every time we hang out.”

I sprayed my hair with Bumble and Bumble Prep spray and grabbed my already hot flatiron. “And you're
definitely
going to have fun tonight,” I said. “Are you superexcited about meeting Ryan?”

Paige nodded. “Yeah. Really excited.”

I unclipped another section of my hair, waiting for her to gush.

“Sooo …” I asked, “where are you guys going? What are you wearing?”

Paige seemed concentrated on her hair. “Oh. We can't decide. We might see a movie, but neither of us could make up our minds.”

“Oooh, so it's like a spontaneous date,” I said. “Fun!”

Paige ran her fingers through her red hair and sprayed it with finishing gloss. “Totally. And are you coming right back after The Slice?”

I nodded. “Pretty sure. I'm kind of tired after the lesson today. Plus, I've got a math quiz tomorrow, and I don't want to fall asleep during class.”

“Cool,” Paige said. “We'll meet back here then, okay?”

“Definitely.”

We finished our hair, checked each other's makeup, and left Winchester. Paige headed for Blackwell, Ryan's dorm, and I walked toward The Slice.

The lanterns had flickered on and illuminated campus. Going out for pizza felt like the right middle-of-the-week way to relax—I couldn't wait to get there and chill. I reached The Slice, catching my reflection in the doorway. I'd paired skinny jeans with ankle boots and a long-sleeve plum shirt.

I pulled open the door, the smell of pizza and garlic
bread wafting around me. I loved the old-fashioned shop. All of the tables were covered with red and white checkered tablecloths with mini-lanterns in the center of the tables. The lighting was soft and the entire vibe felt chill. My favorite part was the pizza-making counter, shielded by glass, where the staff tossed dough high in the air, caught it, then covered the pizza in sauce, cheese, and the patron's topping of choice.

Someone waved at me, and I saw Brit had already grabbed a table. Seated with her were Heather, Julia, and Alison.

“Sorry to crash your date,” Heather said, grinning. “But we were in the mood for pizza too.”

“Cool,” I said.

But the look on Julia's face definitely did
not
look cool. Instead, she looked as if she wished The Slice had never existed. But after her smackdown with Heather, I doubted that she'd complain. Silent pouting was way more mature.

A waiter came, and we all ordered sodas and cheesy breadsticks before we ordered pizza.

“Is this not, like, the longest week ever?” Alison moaned. She leaned back in the red booth.

“It so is,” Brit said. “Sasha and I were talking about
that at the stable. It's so overwhelming and intimidating to think about all of the work we have to get done.”

Heather sighed. “You guys need to relax. Seriously. Especially you, Silver. You've survived this long—not that I know how you did—I think you're going to make it.” She looked at Brit. “And you'll get used to things. It's only your first week here. It'll get easier.”

“Hopefully,” Brit said, her smile tentative.

The waiter, who had to be one of Canterwood's high school students, came with our drinks and set a plate of steaming breadsticks in the middle of the table.

We all dove for them—our hands bumping together. Everyone laughed.

“Omigod, it's like we've never eaten in public before,” Heather said, holding back a smile. It kept getting easier to spot her fake-annoyance.

We took turns taking breadsticks for the basket, and it didn't take long for the Canterwood gossip to start. Julia, and especially Alison, knew
everything
that was going on in school.

“Did you hear that Danielle on our floor broke up with Justin for the
third
time?” Alison asked.

“No!” We all chorused. Danielle and I'd been in a class together last year, but we hadn't talked much.

“I mean, c'mon! It's ‘I like you, then I don't' and just this back-and-forth. It's, like, omigod, stop already!” Alison rubbed her temples, her lilac nail polish gleaming in the light. “Either be together or stay broken up. It's ridic.”

I'd be a total hypocrite if I commented on that. My situation with Eric wasn't like Danielle's where I kept breaking up with the same boyfriend over and over, but I had almost been Jacob's girlfriend, and then not, so many times.

“There must be something there,” Brit said. She played with the long dangling silver necklace she'd looped twice around her neck.

We paused the conversation when the waiter came over and set the pizza in the middle of us. The half cheese, half pepperoni pizza looked delish. I was so hungry, I probably could have devoured the entire thing. I grabbed a giant slice of pepperoni.

Once everyone had a slice, Heather looked at Brit. “What were you going to say?”

Brit shook pepper flakes onto her pizza and took a sip of soda.

“I was saying that, yeah, they keep breaking up and getting back together, but nobody would keep doing that to
themselves if there weren't feelings involved. Danielle and Justin must feel
something
for each other that keeps drawing them to each other.”

“That's kind of romantic,” Julia said, taking a giant bite of pizza. “They can't stay away from each other even when they try.”

Looking at me for the briefest of seconds, Heather glanced back at the group. “It sounds like she needs to make up her mind. Danielle has to know she wants to be with him, and they need to stop wasting time and be together.”

I coughed on my sip of soda, covering my mouth with my hand before I spewed it all over the table. Some of it dropped from my hand onto the table.

“Silver! Gross!” Heather said. She shook her head, handing me a stack of napkins.

Clearly she'd been talking about
me.
That I needed to make a commitment to try a relationship with Jacob if that's what I wanted. Heather had known I'd gone back and forth about my feelings for Jacob and Eric—worried about hurting both guys that I cared about in different ways. But, deep down, I knew Jacob and I had missed our chance at something that had potential to be amazing.

And I wanted that opportunity now.

“I can't even imagine breaking up with Ben,” Julia continued. The soft lighting in our spot in the pizza parlor made her blond hair shine softly.

Alison elbowed her, teasingly. “I can't wait to have someone to worry about breaking up with or not.”

Everyone, including Alison, laughed.

“You'll find the right guy,” Heather said. “It's good to be choosy. I mean, it's not as if you could be part of the Trio if you were dating a loser.”

Alison's eyes widened and hand froze with her slice of pizza halfway to her mouth.

“Kidding, you dork,” Heather said, patting her friend's shoulder. “As if we'd ever
let
a loser dude anywhere near you.”

That made Alison smile. And it was true—the Trio protected each other.

“What about you guys?” Brit asked, looking at Heather and me. “Are you seeing anyone? Got any crushes?”

I shoved pizza into my mouth, forcing Heather to speak first. She gave me a pointed look, knowing exactly what I was doing. I kept chewing verrry slowly.

“There's a guy,” Heather said slowly. “We really just started talking over break, and it's too early to tell anything since we haven't been out yet, but we'll see.”

I sat back a little, surprised that she'd revealed anything to Brit.

Brit looked over at me. “What about you?”

Heather stared back at me like, and-now-it's-your-turn-go.

“Um, well, I'm not … dating anyone right now,” I said. That was the truth, mostly. I didn't want to tell Brit about the Jacob situation before he talked to Callie. Brit seemed trustworthy, but I couldn't risk it. Every move between Jacob and me until he talked to Callie had to be supercareful. And he wouldn't be talking to her until Friday.

“Welcome to the club, then,” Brit said, smiling. “I just got to Canterwood, so I'm obviously without a guy. There are tons of cute boys here, but I need at least, oh, another week to settle in before I start looking.”

She tossed her hair in a flirty motion and grinned.

“I wish we all lived in Orchard!” Brit said, sticking out her bottom lip. “We'd have so much fun. I have a double—we could
so
be roomies!”

“It would be great,” I admitted. “My roommate and I are having some problems right now, but she's still my best friend. I know we're going to work it out.”

“Well, we can at least do sleepovers sometimes,” Brit said.

“For sure.”

But as I ate my pizza, I wasn't so sure about Paige and me. Things with Paige had shifted since the night of our blowup. I couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't telling me something. Maybe she was still mad that I'd chosen to stay at Heather's for spring break. If that was true I wish she'd tell me instead of being weird. It just made me paranoid, and it couldn't be healthy for her to hold it in.

“Sleepovers would definitely be awesome,” I said. “I'm in.”

We finished our pizza and Heather, Julia, and Alison put cash on the table.

“We're going to the media center to watch a movie,” Heather said. “See you guys later.”

Brit and I said bye to them and took final sips of our sodas.

“Want to grab dessert at The Sweet Shoppe?” I asked. “I heard that hazelnut chocolate cake is on the menu.”

“Hmmm …” Brit put a finger to her chin, the smile on her face giving away her answer. “Such a tough decision. I'm never able to pass up chocolate cake.”

“Me either,” I said. “It's an illness, or something.”

We paid the bill and left The Slice.

“I like Alison, Julia, and Heather,” Brit said. “What's your deal with them?”

“A pretty messy history,” I said, blowing out a huge breath. “Heather hated me the second I got to campus. Charm spooked and ran away from me on my first day. He scared Aristocrat and Heather fell off.”

Brit blinked a bunch of times. “Omigod. Was she hurt?”

“No, just really,
really
angry,” I said. “She wouldn't let it go for a long time, and she took every chance she got to get back at me. We hated each other, and, because of Heather's behavior toward me, Julia and Alison weren't exactly nice either.”

“Yeaaah,” Brit said. “Julia acts like she wishes I would disappear. But Heather and Alison have been cool to me, so I hope it rubs off on Julia.”

“Total mystery with that girl,” I said, shaking my head. “I've seen her go back and forth all the time. You can never be sure. All you can do is keep hanging with Alison and Heather, since you seem to like them, and hopefully Julia will get over whatever her problem is.”

“Fingers crossed,” Brit said. “We'll have to have a sleepover in my room some time and maybe if I get Julia's favorite movie or food, she'll be a little nicer.”

I grinned. “Oh, Brit. It'll take a lot more than that to get Julia on your side.”

We walked under the blue and white awning of The Sweet Shoppe and opened the door. Scents of brownies, cookies, cakes and other delicious treats filled the shop. I inhaled as deeply as possible, taking in the smell of yummy desserts. If I wasn't afraid of going into a sugar coma I'd live at The Sweet Shoppe. Everything was tempting from the zillions of ice cream flavors (bubblegum and Superman—hello!) to the varieties of hot chocolate with real whipped cream on top.