Beautiful Disaster (Privilege 2)

"What's with the attitude, B.L.? Aren't you happy to see me? Don't you want to catch up? Ask how I've been?"

"What do you want, Kaitlynn?" Ariana repeated, her blood starting to curdle.

"What do I want. . . ?" Kaitlynn said. She picked up a straw from the table, tore the wrapper off with her teeth, and started gnawing on the end. "I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet. Weren't you and that BFF of yours, Noelle, always up for firsts in your class every semester? You were always going on and on about how you two loved to compete with each other. Remember all those nights in our room when you told me all your little secrets and dreams?"

Ariana's eyes burned at the memories, not just of the idiotic amount of trust she'd placed in Kaitlynn, but of Noelle and their friendship. How dare Kaitlynn trot out those memories for her own amusement, using them to remind Ariana of how gullible she'd been.

"You want money," Ariana said through her teeth. "How predictable of you."

"Yes. I want money." Kaitlynn sat forward again, dropping the punk persona and mimicking Ariana's ramrod posture exactly. "I've been staying at the Palomar on Dupont Circle and I want enough money to keep me in the manner to which I've become accustomed for the next two weeks. Until my flight to Australia."

Ariana's heart leapt with hope. "You're going to Australia?"

"Just like we always planned," she said, her voice bitter. "I'd say you can come, but I'm still a bit pissed that you screwed up with Briana Leigh's money."

104

" You're pissed at met You must be joking," Ariana hissed under her breath. Kaitlynn smirked. Indignation ate away at Ariana's stomach like acid through tin, but she tried to squelch it. Sure, Kaitlynn was playing her, but in two weeks she'd be gone. Wouldn't i

t be worth it to swallow a little pride if it meant getting rid of her forever?

"Fine. Tell the front desk that Briana Leigh Covington is taking over payment for the room. I'll call them with my credit card number," Ariana said flatly.

"Why not just give me the number? Make it easier on both of us?" Kaitlynn asked, her eyes twinkling.

Because you'll go on a shopping spree and max the thing out, Ariana thought. "No."

Kaitlynn sat back in her chair and smirked. "Have it your way."

"As if any of this is my way," Ariana shot back.

"Attitude!" Kaitlynn scolded, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Are we done here?" Ariana asked, reaching for her bag.

"Not quite." Kaitlynn placed her cup down carefully in its saucer. "I also want you to get me a million dollars to help me start my life down under."

Ariana felt the walls of the diner shrinking toward her. The edges of her vision went blurry as the table full of cheerleaders cracked up laughing---awful, cackling laughs. Under the table, her fingers gripped her arm until the nails cut into her skin.

"Where do you think I'm going to get a million dollars?" she gasped.

"You'll figure it out. You always do," Kaitlynn said, taking a syrup-soaked bite of her pancakes. "Or, well, you usually do."

105

Ariana's cheeks stung at this thinly veiled reference to her failures of the past. "There's no way I can get a million dollars," she said. "Briana Leigh never had access to that kind of money."

"I'm sure that if she really wanted it, she could have gotten it," Kaitlynn said, staring into Ariana's eyes. "And you really want it, B.L., because if you don't get it, I'm going to blow this little charade of yours out of the water."

The lump in Ariana's throat was large enough to choke on, but she managed to swallow it down. She couldn't let Kaitlynn see the effect her threats were having on her. Could not let the girl walk out of here feeling she'd won. Ariana extracted her wallet from her hobo bag and removed five one-hundred-dollar bills, the only cash she had on her.

"Here," she said, swallowing her pride as she slid the bills across the table. "It's all I have."

Kaitlynn barely glanced at the money as she picked it up, folded it, and stuffed it into an inside pocket in her vest. She popped a strawberry into her mouth from her plate and looked at Ariana sympathetically.

"Come on, Ariana," she said, using her real name for the first time. "I hate to see you like this. Don't underestimate yourself. I know you can do it."

Ariana stared Kaitlynn down. What she wouldn't give to be able to pick up that fork and just jab it through the girl's eye. Just have it over and done with right now. She glanced around, wondering if anyone in this place had really noticed her. Had noted her appearance. Wondered if those guys at the counter would try to tackle her when she made a run for it.