"Eh. He's all right," Maria said, looking away. Ariana caught a hint of a blush at the top of Maria's high cheekbones. "It's just the fame thing. It makes objects in the rearview mirror appear hotter than they are."
"He's famous?" Ariana asked, looking after the boys, who were just sidling out the door into the sun.
All three girls gaped at Ariana. "Uh, yeah? Youngest artist ever to have two albums premiere at number one on the Billboard chart?" Soomie said, ticking a list off on her fingers. "First under-thirty ever to win Peoples Sexiest Man Alive? Winner of dozens of AMAs, Grammys, and MTV Video Music Awards, and star of the upcoming feature film First Son?"
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An embarrassed blush crept up Ariana's face from her neck. Clearly this was a person whom every red-blooded American teenager was supposed to know about. She dimly recalled a conversation back in her dorm room--something about a worldwide tour and an inflated ego. They must have been talking about Landon. If she hadn't been so distracted by her new room, her fresh start, she would have tuned in and would never have made such a slip.
"You're not from the South. You're from Mars," Brigit said with a laugh.
"Sorry," Ariana said quickly. "I'm just not the biggest pop culture junkie."
This excuse seemed adequate. Adequate enough for the topic to be dropped, but with some dubious looks.
"I am so going to make him my boyfriend this year," Soomie said, biting her bottom lip.
"Really?" Brigit asked as Maria looked, ever so briefly, alarmed. Then Maria saw Ariana noticing her expression and quickly glanced away.
Soomie whipped out her BlackBerry, turned it on again, hit a button, and showed them the screen. "It's on my top ten goals for the year."
And there it was. Right underneath "Earn straight A's" and "Perfect SAT scores." Number three read, "Make Landon mine."
"Well, then you should go talk to him!" Brigit said, grabbing Soomie's hand in excitement. "Come on! They're probably out on the quad!"
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"Now?" Soomie looked suddenly terrified. She reached back to smooth her hair.
"Sure. Why not?" Maria said, picking at her fingernails as if wholly uninterested. "I'm dying to see your technique for 'making Landon mine,'" she said, throwing in some air quotes.
"Okay." Soomie rolled her shoulders back. '"Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today,' right? Let's do it."
"I just have to pay for these things," Ariana told them. "I'll catch up with you."
But the girls were already halfway out the door when they waved to her. Ariana felt a scalding rush of irritation. What was she, invisible? She forced herself to breathe in, then clenched and unclenched a fist--letting it go. She was still new. The three of them--and this elusive Lexa girl, apparently--had been best friends for a while. It would take some time for her to rise to integral status in the group.
She was going to have to be patient. Even though she was older than them, even though she should have been at Princeton by now and would have been if not for the betrayal of certain people , . . even though she should have been well beyond these girls and any need of their approval... she wasn't. That was just how it was. And the sooner she accepted that, the better.
With a deep breath, Ariana returned to the task at hand. She gathered a few more pairs of socks, then browsed through the blazers and selected an array of accessories. By the time she was done her arms were laden with clothing, hangers, and various little touches that would add some personality to her uniform. She had just joined
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the long line snaking toward the center of the store when her phone beeped.
Startled, she flinched, sending the silky ties and scarves sliding to the floor. Quickly, Ariana stooped to gather them before flipping open her purse to find her phone. She had a feeling she knew who was trying to contact her, and her chest filled with dread.
The text, as predicted, was from Ashley Hudson. Of course it was. He was the only living person with this number.
Am @ Easton Acad. No one here ever heard of Emma Walsh.
Where R U? Whats going on??? WB. PLZ.
The phone nearly slid from Ariana's now-sweaty palm, but she gripped it before it could fall and hit the ground. Hands shaking, she deleted the text and turned off her phone, glancing around to see if anyone had noticed her panic. No one was watching her, however. They were all too busy browsing and buying and catching up with friends. Living their lives.
Which was exactly what Ariana was going to do. Live this life and put the old one behind her. As soon as she got herself a new phone number.
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