Perfect Mistake (Privilege 3)

"You know those tasks we got the other night?" Allison whispered, her eyes twinkling in the dim light coming through the windows from the common room. "Well, I just completed mine."

She and Tahira slapped hands. Ariana's heart plummeted. No. This was not possible. Allison was supposed to be disqualified. She was supposed to be out of the running. And now the girl was telling her that she was one step closer to getting in?

"What was it?" Brigit asked.

Allison pulled out her slip of black paper and held it up. "Sabotage a pledge from another secret

society," she said with a grin. "You know that cheat sheet Mr. Chen found this morning? Well, it wasn't mine. And as I was sitting in Jansen's office waiting for her and Chen to finish deliberating, all I could think about was who could have done it, and then I realized . . . Justina Cruz--the girl who bumped into me? She was on Team Blue and I know she's being tapped because of. . . you know . . . her mom--"

"Her mom?" Ariana interrupted.

Tahira gave Ariana a derisive look. "Yeah. Dora Cruz? Hello? What planet are you from?"

Ariana bit her tongue. Dora Cruz was a famous movie star, and apparently the fact that this Justina girl was her daughter was common knowledge at APH. To everyone other than Ariana.

176

"Anyway, I told Jansen and Chen that it must have been her. That she was setting me up," Allison continued.

"And they believed you?" Ariana asked.

"They took a second look at the cheat sheet and found some differences between it and Allison's handwriting," Tahira said. "She has this weird dyslexic thing where her sixes are nines and her nines are sixes--"

"And Mr. Chen always gives me a pass on it because he knows I can't control it," Allison interrupted. "So when he saw that all the compounds on the cheat sheet were correct, he figured it out right away."

Tahira looked Ariana directly in the eye. "It was an obvious fake."

Ariana wanted to scream. She'd fixed all those compounds because she thought the girl was an idiot, not a mild dyslexic. This could not be happening. How could her plan to get rid of Allison have worked out in Allison's favor? The room started to spin. This was wrong. This was so very, very wrong.

"Maybe her task was to sabotage me?" Allison said. "Who knows? Whatever the case, they gave her a month's detention and there's no way she's getting in to whatever society wanted her. And ta--da! My task is done!"

She threw her arms over her head and danced in a circle, all proud of herself. Ariana's fingertips twitched, itching to shove her over the back row of seats. Her throat started to close over and her vision began to blur. Allison had completed her task. There were still five of them vying for four open spots. And once again, Ariana's life was at stake. All their lives. Her stomach filled with acidic dread. All that

177

work had come to nothing. Nothing. And suddenly, Ariana couldn't breathe.

No. You cannot let them see how this is affecting you. Control, Ariana. Control.

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

Out, one. . . two. . . three. . .

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

Out, one. . . two. . . three. . .

"Come on, Allison. Let's go pop open that Taittinger Daddy sent," Tahira said, tugging on her friend's elbow. "We need to celebrate. See you later, ladies!"

She and Allison slipped out, leaving Ariana and Brigit alone. The moment they were gone, Ariana sucked in her first good breath in a long while. She leaned both hands on the back of a theater seat and took another.

"Well. That backfired," Brigit said.

"What backfired?"

Ariana's hand flew to her throat, startled. Lexa was standing in the doorway of the theater, holding it open.

"You scared me," she said.