Perfect Mistake (Privilege 3)

And dragging people up to the woods with bags over their heads to a fire surrounded by human skulls is what? Whimsical? Ariana thought.

"Someone is going to have to retaliate," Lexa said with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Oh, yes. Someone definitely should," Maria agreed.

Ariana just let them talk, wondering if Kaitlynn knew how dangerous this whole game was. If Lexa or anyone else had started to suspect Kaitlynn, there was no way Ariana would have been able to convince them to accept her. There was no way Brigit was going to invite a midnight toenail clipper to the NoBash. Kaitlynn would get none of the things she wanted, and would undoubtedly blame it on Ariana.

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Somehow twist it so that Arianas delay in sabotaging someone had forced her to do what she'd done.

Kaitlynn was much more than off the, deep end; she was being pulled out to sea by a strong undertow. Ariana was not dealing with a person who could be reasoned with, a person whose moves could be predicted. Kaitlynn was out of control.

And that scared Ariana more than anything.

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COUPLES, COUPLES, COUPLES

At least it was a beautiful day. Hot and sunny with a light breeze. The perfect day for lazing around by the pond, pretending to study and working on one's tan. Which made it easy to convince Lexa and the others to join her down by the water after breakfast. As Ariana lay on her stomach atop a crisp cotton blanket, her copy of Kate Chopin's The Awakening open in front of her, she breathed deeply and tried not to think about Kaitlynn and her psychosis. She had to focus on the positive. And right now, the Lexa--and--Conrad plan was going perfectly. Soon after she and her friends had settled in, Conrad had arrived with his English notes as scheduled and quickly fallen into conversation with Lexa. The pair was currently strolling around the water's edge, pausing every now and then to admire the flower beds or watch the pair of swans cutting their graceful arcs across the pond's surface.They were obviously smitten. Ariana was sure that Lexa would

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ask Conrad to the NoBash any day now. Then she could officially be declared over Palmer and he would be free to escort someone else to the party. Namely, Ariana. Sometimes she just couldn't get over her own brilliance.

"Anyone thirsty?" Soomie asked, looking up from her thick physics text. "I'm gonna text Melanie and ask her to bring down some iced tea and snacks."

"Lemonade for me, please," Ariana said, pushing her sunglasses atop her head.

"Iced tea works for us," Brigit put in. "Us" meaning herself and Adam, who hadn't left her side all day. The two of them were currently sharing a pair of earbuds attached to Brigit's pink iPod, sitting so close together on their picnic blanket that Brigit's knee rested atop his thigh. So much for Brigit's nervousness around boys.

"Wait. You're texting who for what now?" Adam asked, brushing aside a pesky bee that had been hovering for the last few minutes.

"It's a long story. Brigit will fill you in," Soomie said, her thumbs already flicking over the keys.

Ariana smiled as Brigit started to explain the whole concept of the sophomore slaves to Adam, trying not to make it sound scandalous, which it easily could. They really did make a cute couple. She glanced at Soomie, wondering what sort of guy she would like if she didn't have a crush on Landon. Maria had begged off the study session, saying that she had a pointe class in the city, while Landon was supposedly doing some interview for Entertainment Weekly. Ariana had a hunch that they'd sneaked off together for some alone time. While

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she fully respected Maria's right to a secret relationship, she felt bad for Soomie, lusting after a guy who was seeing one of her best friends.

She was about to return to her book and save the Soomie dilemma for another time when Kaitlynn's familiar laugh caught her attention. Ariana had avoided having to even look at her at breakfast by sitting with her back to Tahira's table. Now her shoulders curled as she glanced at the shoreline, flicking over the various groups of students dotted here and there. When she found the girl, she froze. Kaitlynn was standing near the edge of the pond in a pair of barely there shorts, chatting with Palmer Liriano.

Ariana's vision instantly clouded over with tiny gray dots. She tried to breathe, but her throat closed in on her like a trapdoor.

What were Kaitlynn and Palmer doing together? How did they even know each other?

"What do you think of Lillian, Ana?" Soomie asked, following her gaze. "You live with her. Got any good dirt?"

She's a bitch. An evil, sadistic, conniving, completely insane bitch who cuts off people's body parts in the middle of the night. How's that for dirt?

But she couldn't say that. Of course she couldn't. At breakfast, Lexa and Maria had told everyone their theory, and they all had agreed that the Fellows were the most likely culprits. On the way out of the dining hall, Maria and Christian had cornered Palmer, who was eating all his meals with the crew team, and Ariana had a feeling they were confabbing about how to get back at the other society. Kaitlynn was in the clear, she knew.

"Ana?"

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In, one . . . two . . . three . . .