Perfect Mistake (Privilege 3)

"No, thanks. I'm exhausted," Ariana said. "I'm just going to crash."

"Okay. G'night!" Maria said as Ariana opened the door to the lounge.

She dropped her pillow on the couch and settled in for what was

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sure to be an uncomfortable night's sleep. But it had to be better than sleeping next to Kaitlynn, listening to her laugh in her sleep, flinching at her every move. At least here she could concentrate on trying to plot her next move.

Even though she was sure that whatever she came up with, Kaitlynn was going to think of it first.

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OUT OF CONTROL

"Oh my God! What the hell!?"Ariana's eyes wrenched open and she sat up straight, her heart pounding in her throat. In the next room, Lexa was shouting at the top of her lungs. For a moment, Ariana clung to her comforter, trying to remember why she was on Maria and Lexa's couch. Then Maria screeched as if she'd just stepped on a rat.

Out of the corner of

her eye Ariana spotted it. Another pink velvet ring box, sitting on the coffee table.

Ariana grabbed the box and pried it open: Out dropped two red crescent moons. She flung the comforter aside and checked her feet. Sure enough her big toenails had been cut to the quick. At that moment, Maria and Lexa burst into the room.

"She has one too!" Maria cried, rushing to Ariana's side, her half--fallen bun bouncing around atop her head. She looked down at the toenails on the floor and then jumped up on the couch behind Ariana

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as if she were afraid they were going to bite. "Omigod, omigod. Who would do this?" she cried, hugging herself.

Ariana glanced at Maria's toes, which were all gnarly and blistered from being shoved into her pointe shoes every day of her life. Just like Ariana's, her big toenails were freshly shorn.

"You know what, girls? I think I've finally figured it out," Lexa said calmly, placing her own empty box on the bookshelf near the door. She crossed her arms over her red silk pajama top.

"You have?"

Ariana's throat constricted so quickly it hurt. She clutched the pink box in both hands. If either Maria or Lexa decided to inspect it more closely, they were sure to find the countdown calendar that was certain to be tucked inside.

Seven more days . . .

"Omigod! You guys have them, too?" Kaitlynn appeared in the doorway, holding a pink box in her hands. Ariana's face burned with anger at the very sight of her. She, Lexa, and Maria all looked down at Kaitlynn's feet, where her big toenails had been jaggedly clipped.

All the better to throw them off her scent. Brilliant.

Ariana took a deep breath. "Lexa was just about to tell us who she thinks is doing this." She turned the pink box over and over in her hands, hating that she had to act as Kaitlynn's accomplice, even as she was one of her victims.

"Who?" Kaitlynn didn't miss a beat. She walked in and sat down on the couch, looking up at Lexa like a lost child. Maria perched on the armrest.

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"Well, by now I'm sure you all know there are a few secret societies here at Atherton--Pryce," Lexa began.

She gave Ariana a no--nonsense look and Ariana got her meaning immediately. She wasn't to mention the fact that Lexa had told her about the secret societies during Welcome Week. It was such an odd game they were all playing. If Maria and Lexa were both in Stone and Grave, as Ariana suspected, they both knew she and Kaitlynn had already been tapped. Yet none of them was allowed to acknowledge what they knew about the others.

"Well, this has the Fellows written all over it," Lexa said.

"The Fellows?" Ariana asked, sitting down next to Kaitlynn. Her legs felt as if she had run a mile. It was hard to believe that three minutes ago she had been dead asleep.

"Definitely," Maria said with a nod. "Those guys can be seriously morbid."