It was a crib sheet. A list in a tiny font set on 3 × 5 paper. And from the looks of the information, it was a senior English crib sheet. Exactly the class Leanne Shore had cheated in. And what had the administration used as their damning evidence?
Crib sheets.
If these matched the crib sheets that had sealed Leanne’s fate, then it was all true. Natasha was right. Noelle and her friends
had
framed Leanne. They had gotten her kicked out of school. But why? Just because she was a suck-up and she annoyed Noelle? Was that really a reason to mess with someone’s life?
Dying to know more now, I opened the file marked IM. Sure
enough, a file full of copied IM messages filled the screen. They were mostly between Ariana and Noelle. My eyes scanned the first messages. They all seemed mundane. Conversations about homework and parties—nothing out of the ordinary.
Then I saw my name and all the air rushed out of me. I stopped to read.
| *Ariana*: | so we’re definitely doing this |
| Noelle_1: | DEFINITELY. We decided we wanted Reed right? |
| *Ariana*: | yes. and lattimer is on board. kiran got her a free pass at manolo 4 her silence. |
| Noelle_1: | PERFECT! Lattimer is 2 easy. So we’re ready to do it? You have the cribs? |
| *Ariana*: | all set. just tell me when and where. |
| Noelle_1: | TOMORROW. We’ll get Reed in here by the weekend. And L out. Thank God! |
| *Ariana*: | you are so bad! |
| Noelle_1: | And it feels SO GOOD . . . |
I could not breathe. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t have even saved myself if the entire dorm had walked in at that very moment.
They had done it for me, to create a place for me in Billings. This had all happened because of me.
I heard a creak on the stairs and suddenly came to life. I didn’t
have time to think about this. Quickly I copied all the initialed files onto my disk, just in case there happened to be something more worth reading. I shoved the disk into the back pocket of my jeans, then shut the computer down and replaced everything as I’d found it. I was just closing the trunk when I heard voices downstairs. The party was breaking up. I shoved the trunk into the back of the closet, closed the doors, grabbed my stuff, and fled.
I knew everyone would be coming up the front, so I raced for the safety of the back stairwell. Once inside, I slumped down on the steps and struggled to catch my breath.
They had framed Leanne because of me. It was my fault Leanne had been booted. My fault Natasha was so upset she was willing to blackmail people and sneak around behind their backs. It was all for me. So that I could live here. So that I could be a Billings Girl.
It was sick. It was twisted. It was evil. But it was also for me. No one had ever done anything like this for me before. They had risked their own futures to get me into Billings and solidify mine. As disgusted as I was, I was also more than a little bit flattered.
And how had I repaid them? I had snooped through their rooms. Uncovered their most embarrassing secrets. For a moment I was overcome with shame. These were my friends, and I had betrayed them.
But I still had one question.
Why
were they my friends? Why had they brought me to Billings at all? What were they getting out of it? Why did they even want me here? Just so they could order me around? It didn’t make any sense. None of this made any sense.
A door slammed right above me and I was on my feet again, racing down the stairs fast enough to keep up with my pulse. I had to get back to my room anyway. Get back there and think. I had the evidence now. I had what Natasha needed. The question was, would I ever share it with her?
The next morning while Natasha was in the shower, I threw on jeans and a sweatshirt, tossed my hair into a ponytail, and snuck out, closing the door as quietly as humanly possible. I had risen early and had already redone all the first-floor windows in an effort to avoid being in the room when her alarm went off. Now was the perfect chance to bail before she could ask me if I’d found anything and before the other girls could strong-arm me into more chores.
It was a cool, cloudy morning and I shrugged into my coat as I quickly dialed Thomas’s room on my cell phone. I hurried away from Billings, hoisting my bag over my shoulder as I held the phone to my ear. The campus was as silent as a graveyard. My breath made steam clouds in the cold morning air. The marigolds that lined the walk to Billings were bent from the weight of the frost that covered their petals. I struggled to button my coat with one frigid hand. Josh picked up on the fifth ring.
“ ’Lo?” he asked. He was still asleep.
“Josh, I’m so sorry to wake you.”
“Who is this?” he asked.
“It’s Reed,” I said. Suddenly I felt as if someone was watching me. I paused at the intersection of the path to the girls’ dorms and the path to the library and looked around. The quad was completely deserted except for a squirrel zipping here and there under one of the benches.
“Reed. What’s wrong?” he asked me. “Is it Thomas? Did you hear from him?”
“No,” I said, squirming at the mention of the name. “I just have to talk to you about something. Can you meet me in the caf in, like, fifteen minutes?”
“Uh . . . sure,” he said. “I’ll be right there.”
“Thanks,” I told him.
The moment I hung up the phone, I felt a chill down my back. I whipped around and my heart rocketed into my throat. I gasped, startled, and then choked. Detective Hauer was three feet behind me. His brow creased as he approached me, his black trench coat billowing behind him.
“Are you all right, Miss Brennan?” he asked me.
I pounded on my chest with my free hand and tried to get control of my cough.
Miss Brennan
. He’d remembered my name. He’d met about five hundred kids over the past two weeks and he’d remembered my name. That could not be good.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Fine. You just scared me.”
“Sorry,” he replied, though he didn’t look it. “I like a stroll in the morning. Clears my head.”
He looked like he was waiting for a response, so I gave him one. “That’s . . . nice.”
“And you?” he said.
“And me what?”
“What are you doing out here so early?” he asked. “It was a long time ago, I admit, but I sort of remember liking my sleep as a teenager.”
“Yeah, well, I’m an individual,” I said with a laugh, throwing my hands out. I was acting like a derranged scarecrow.
“Who were you talking to?” he asked, eyeing my phone. He rubbed his hands together and blew into them.
“Oh, uh . . .” There didn’t seem to be any reason to lie. “Josh. Josh Hollis. He’s meeting me at breakfast.”
“Thomas Pearson’s roommate?” he said, raising his bushy eyebrows. “That Josh Hollis?”
Why did he have to make it sound suspicious? What the heck was wrong with me meeting Josh?
I shrugged. “He’s the only one I know.” Then I made an elaborate show of checking my watch. “Ooh. I gotta go. I’m gonna be late,” I said, backing up. “Enjoy your walk.”
He nodded, narrowing his eyes slightly. “Enjoy your breakfast.”
“I will! Thanks!” I replied, trying my hardest to seem unaffected.
It didn’t work. I could feel him watching me all the way across the quad and it was all I could do to keep myself from turning around and checking to see if I was right. But when I
finally reached the cafeteria, sweating from exertion and nerves, I couldn’t take it anymore. I paused and pretended to search through my bag for something. As I did so, I glanced out the corner of my eye. There was Detective Hauer, standing alone in the center of campus.
Watching me.
For the first time in days I was able to go through the breakfast line and get what
I
wanted and
only
what I wanted. I knew that as soon as the Billings Girls arrived I would be back up here, filling their orders, but for now I was going to enjoy the freedom. I deserved it after everything I’d been through this morning.
Two pieces of bacon, one slice of peanut butter toast, and a bowl full of Apple Jacks later, I emerged from the line and walked over to our usual table. I started with the toast, hoping to calm my uneasy stomach before moving on to the sugar and the grease. The cavernous cafeteria was so undisturbed, I could see the individual dust particles dancing in the shafts of sun coming through the skylights. I watched Josh enter through the front door, stick to the wall on his way to the line, and emerge moments later with coffee and three doughnuts.
“So, I’m intrigued,” he said, sitting down in front of me. He chomped into a cinnamon doughnut, spraying the brown powder everywhere. His curls were mashed on one side and stuck straight
up on the other, reminding me that just a few minutes ago he had been curled up in his bed, warm and cozy, and that he’d hoisted himself out of his slumber for me.
“Okay, hypothetically . . .”
Josh dropped the doughnut. “I love a good ‘hypothetically,’” he said, leaning his elbows on the table.
I laughed. “Hypothetically,” I repeated for his benefit, “if you found out that one of the guys in your dorm had broken the honor code . . . would you tell?”
Josh raised his eyebrows, then looked down at his plate and blew out a breath.
“I mean, I know you’re
supposed
to tell, but, in reality . . . would you?” I asked.
Josh nodded once and lifted his head. “Definitely.”
“Really?”
The double doors opened and a clump of students filed in. We wouldn’t be alone for long.
“Yes. No question,” Josh said, sipping his coffee. “You signed a contract. We all did. I know it’s probably not cool or whatever to say this, but that actually means something to me. When you commit to something, you don’t go back on your word. Besides, it’s the right thing to do. If someone does something wrong, they should be called on it. Case closed.”
Damn. Boy took his hypothetical very seriously. For some reason, his conviction made me squirm. I dropped the toast and pushed my tray away.
“Tell me how you really feel,” I joked, trying to lighten my own mood.
“How he really feels is idiotic.”
Startled, we both looked up to find Whittaker hovering at the end of the table. Where had he come from?
“No offense intended,” he said to Josh.
“Uh . . . none taken,” Josh said facetiously. He jumped his chair forward until the table constricted his chest so that Whittaker could get by. Whit pulled out the chair next to Josh and settled in. He took a long sip of his grapefruit juice and smacked his lips.
“I didn’t intend to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help overhearing,” Whittaker began, resting his wrists on the edge of the table like a well-mannered boy. “Reed, if there is, in fact, someone in Billings who has cheated . . . you cannot, under any circumstances, turn them in.”
“What?” Josh blurted.
“Your opinion is kind of naïve, don’t you think?” Whittaker said, picking up his fork and toying with the eggs on his plate. “Not to mention hypocritical.”
Josh pushed back a bit and crossed his arms over his chest. “Wow. Called a naïve hypocrite before I even get to morning services. That’s a first.”
“Well, it’s true,” Whittaker said. “You sit there talking about how people in the wrong should be called on their actions, but did you ever do anything about the fact that your roommate was a drug dealer?”
I felt as if the entire room had just been hit by a cold north wind. Goose bumps everywhere. Josh’s face went ashen.
“That’s none of your business,” he said.
“It is when you’re filling my friend’s head with empty morality,” Whittaker told him.
Then, satisfied that he’d rendered Josh speechless, Whittaker turned and looked me dead in the eye.
“You do not want to ostracize yourself from the women of Billings, Reed,” he said. “Trust me. Not if you want to have a life after you graduate this place.
That’s
reality.”
I swallowed hard and looked at Josh. He rolled his eyes, but said nothing. I realized that Whittaker had just hit upon the very reason Josh’s idealism had made me squirm. Ever since my first day at Easton, all I had heard was that the Billings Girls had the brightest futures of anyone at this school. It was all about connections. The connections got you everywhere. If I turned in Noelle and the others, would all my Billings connections be severed for life? Would everything I had gained by getting in there be automatically obliterated?
“You know I’m right,” Whittaker said haughtily. “I can see it in your eyes.”
“Excuse me,” Josh said, shoving away from the table. “I’m feeling a little nauseous all of a sudden.”
He grabbed one of the remaining doughnuts and stormed out. Whittaker took a deep breath and shook his head. “He’ll learn,” he said. “Eventually.”
I watched Whittaker shovel eggs into his mouth and was suddenly disgusted by the very sight of him. Even if he was right on some level, something about his all-knowing tone completely turned me off. Who had died and made him the fourth wise man?
“Now that we’re alone . . ,” he said, lifting himself out of his chair and taking Josh’s, so that he was sitting directly across from me. “I wanted to let you know that all the arrangements are in place for Friday night. I’ll pick you up on the circle at six o’clock. That should give us plenty of time to get to Boston for our reservation. I am so looking forward to this, Reed.”
The way he was looking at me made me feel almost feverish with revulsion. There was desire in his eyes, plain and simple and obvious. He thought that this date was going to end the same way that night in the woods had.
Well, he was probably hoping to avoid the vomit.
“Are you excited?” he asked.
It’s for Thomas. It’s so that you can go to the Legacy and see Thomas.
“Sure,” I said weakly.