"I think we need to do something to distract her," Ariana said, stepping into the sunlight. "To take her mind off of Palmer."
So I can finally have him all to myself, she added silently.
"Got any ideas?" Maria asked.
"Not yet, but I'll work on it," Ariana said. "It's too bad the NoBash is over a week away. I bet that's pretty distracting."
"Oh, it can be," Maria said with a small smile. She slipped on her aviator sunglasses as they started across campus.
"Are you going with Landon?" Ariana asked.
"Probably not," Maria said, looking ahead thoughtfully. "Too many paparazzi. If they got a shot of the two of us together, and my dad saw it . . ." She slashed her finger across her throat and let her tongue loll out the corner of her mouth.
Ariana laughed. "You mean boarding school in Europe."
"Death would be preferable," Maria said drily. "We go to a few events a year 'as friends,'" she said in a meaningful tone. "But I think Soomie's thinking about asking him."
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"Whatever we do for Lexa, maybe we should do it for Soomie, too. Get her mind off Landon," Ariana suggested.
"Yeah, I think you're going to ne
ed to give her a lobotomy for that," Maria said.
Ariana laughed and together they climbed the stone steps to the class building. Inside, the air was cool and smelled of musty books, freshly waxed floors, and decades of knowledge. Students rushed up the stairs; a pair of teachers spoke in hushed tones outside an open classroom door; somewhere someone was writing on a whiteboard, the marker squeaking and squealing. Ariana grinned, all lit up from the inside.
"God, you're a school person, too, aren't you?" Maria said, rolling her eyes. "It's getting harder and harder to like you," she joked.
"Thanks a lot," Ariana said, her smile intact.
Maria laughed and paused outside a classroom. "This is me. We'll talk Mission: Distraction later."
"Definitely."
Ariana turned and started up the stairs. On the landing above, Kaitlynn was standing near the wall, talking to Tahira of all people. Ariana's heart skipped a nervous beat. She had completely made up that bit about the two of them hanging out. When had they gotten all chummy? And what, exactly, were they talking about?
"What's up, Love?" Ariana said to Tahira, not wanting either of them to think she was intimidated by their alliance.
"Too dim to make up your own insults, Briana Leigh?" Tahira asked, tossing her thick, dark mane over her shoulder. She had coined
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the name for Ariana the week before when she'd beaten her in tennis, but now that Ariana had beaten her back--winning a good deal of money from her in the process--she'd reassigned the name to Tahira.
"Just wanted to remind you who's the loser and who's the winner," Ariana teased, continuing up the stairs.
Kaitlynn said her good--byes to Tahira and quickly fell into step with Ariana. "What was that all about?" she asked.
"Oh, if you'd been here for welcome week, you'd know," Ariana replied blithely, wanting nothing more than to remind Kaitlynn that her position here was not as secure as her own. Maybe Ariana only had a week on the girl, but it was something.
"So you're talking to me again, then? Good," Kaitlynn said. "Because Tahira just filled me in on this NoBash thing and I'm intrigued."
"Goody for you," Ariana replied, scanning the numbers on the doors, looking for her French classroom. She had a feeling she knew what was coming.
"Yeah, it sounds like fun. So I guess you'll be getting me an invite then, right?" Kaitlynn said.
Sometimes Kaitlynn was just so predictable. Ariana sighed and stopped in front of room 212. "Can't you ever do anything for yourself? Or are you just too feeble?"