Beautiful Disaster (Privilege 2)

Ariana lay perfectly still in her bed, listening to Allison snore, trying to remind herself of all the reasons it would be unwise to murder her roommate in her sleep. First, she would instantly be sent back to jail, which would mean that all the work she had done for the past two years both inside the Brenda T. and out would be for nothing. And secondly, it wasn't Allison she wanted to get rid of, however annoying her snoring was. If she killed the girl, Ariana would just be taking out her ire on an innocent bystander. Bitchy, but innocent.No, it wasn't Allison she wanted to kill. It was Palmer. Or maybe Lexa. Or maybe both.

Ever so slowly, Ariana's fingers gripped and released her blanket. Gripped and released. Gripped and released. She repeated the motion over and over as she breathed deliberately and tried to calm her racing thoughts.

Lexa would be tricky to deal with. After studying all evening for

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her history exam, Ariana had e-mailed Briana Leigh's personal maid back in Texas and asked her to dig up any mementos she could find from Briana Leigh's days at Camp Triple Star. Ariana was hoping for diaries and photo albums, but even ribbons and trophies or plane tickets would do. If she could just know which events Briana Leigh had won or the dates she'd attended the camp, she would be in much better shape. After that, all she had to do was keep the conversations vague and hope that Lexa didn't ask as many questions as Brigit did. Because that could eventually pose a problem.

Why did there have to be someone at this school who actually knew Briana Leigh? How could Ariana possibly be that unlucky?

But she wasn't going to think that way. She was going to think positively.

She could deal with Palmer. She just had to stop thinking about him. Ariana squeezed her fists hard. No. She didn't need him. The last thing Ariana needed was a guy who cheated like Daniel Ryan had. A guy who thought it was perfectly fine to toy with a girl's emotions like Thomas Pearson. To lead girls on. To dally with several people at once. The first two loves of her life had been total players. Schemers. Cheaters with charm. And look how those relationships had turned out.

Ariana sighed as she thought of Hudson. Beautiful, kind, uncomplicated Hudson. If only she had met him in this life instead of her interim one. He would never mess with her the way Palmer had.

But he hadn't seemed in the least bit guilty. Did he have no conscience, or had Ariana actually misread his signals? She had posed this question several times over the past few hours and every time she

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came back to the same conclusion. It wasn't possible. She couldn't have misunderstood him. He was interested in her. She knew he was. But clearly he was more interested in Lexa.

Suddenly, Ariana's cell phone trilled. She had turned it back on that afternoon hoping Palmer might call her. She darted up in bed and grabbed for it, wondering if Hudson had psychically realized she was thinking about him. Or if, perhaps, Palmer was calling to explain himself.

Allison groaned and rolled over in her bed as Ariana finally glimpsed the caller ID screen. Her blood ran cold. The caller ID read Briana Leigh.

"Oh my God," Ariana said under her breath. Her fingers shook, and for a moment the specter of Briana Leigh hung over her, as if the girl were phoning her from the grave, but then the call clicked over to voice mail and the reality of the situation settled in. It was Kaitlynn. Kaitlynn was calling her from Briana Leigh's phone.

But how? She had canceled the service. This was just not possible.

The phone rang again, obliterating the silence. Allison sat up in bed. "Will you please take that outside!?"

Ariana flung her covers aside, shoved her feet into her slippers, and grabbed a cashmere hoodie on her way out the door. In the hallway, her bare toes dug into the soft carpet as she stared down at the still-ringing phone, considering what to do. She could simply ignore the call. Let it go to voice mail again and shut it off. But if it was Kaitlynn, she knew the girl would not give up. What if she came to campus? She

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could blow Ariana's cover with one word. Maybe it was better to deal with her now. Find out what she wanted and get it over with.

She hit the talk button and walked toward the floor's common lounge. "Hello?" she said, whispering tersely.

"Hey Briana Leigh!" Kaitlynn's voice sang. "Didja miss me?"

Ariana clenched her teeth. She shoved one arm into her sweater, then the other, holding the phone away from her to keep from gnawing on it in anger. Slowly she sank down on one of the room's cushy leather chairs, remaining perched on the very edge of the seat. The big-screen television in the corner was dark, but the green numbers on the cable box beneath it were flashing, begging to be set, casting an eerie dim glow over Ariana's face at two-second intervals.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"I just want to see you, B.L.," Kaitlynn teased. "I showed up at that fancy school of yours, but when I refused to show them my ID, they wouldn't even call up to your dorm. May as well be the Pentagon. Very impressive."

"What do you want?" Ariana repeated, gripping the phone so hard she was surprised it had yet to shatter.

"I want you to meet me tomorrow afternoon, two p.m., at the Belle Haven diner," Kaitlynn said, her voice syrupy sweet. "We need to have a little chat, Briana Leigh."

"Stop calling me that," Ariana said through her teeth, standing up. She paced around the wooden coffee table, strewn with fashion magazines left behind by her

floor mates, and walked over to the large, single-pane window.

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