Suddenly, Ariana's phone beeped and, against her better judgment, she looked at the screen. The text was from Kaitlynn. It read, simply:
198
198
$$$???
Ariana's heart filled with dread for the hundredth time that week. She snapped the phone shut.
"Was that Maria?" Lexa asked.
"No. Just spam," Ariana replied. Then she glanced at Brigit. "You know, you should work the tables with us tonight. It'll be fun," she said with a forced grin.
If the plan that Ariana's brain was slowly forming was going to work, she would need Brigit there tonight.
"Yes! You totally should," Lexa put in.
Ariana smiled. Lexa's support was a helpful surprise.
Brigit scoffed from the back of her throat. "That would be a 'no way,'" she said, toying with a bangle bracelet. "I helped Soomie with the debate research specifically because I did not want to help Tahira."
"Don't think of it as helping Tahira--think of it as helping the team. Right, Lex?" Ariana said, glancing past Brigit at Lexa.
Lexa smiled at having her own words repeated back to her. "Right. Come on, Brigit, keep us company. If nothing else, it'll be fun just to see all those girls screaming all over Landon."
Brigit considered this. "That would be amusing. And good stuff for my blog."
"Your blog?" Ariana asked.
Brigit nodded excitedly. "Me and a bunch of other royals all blog on tiaradish.com. It's way fun. You should check it out."
"So you're in?" Lexa asked.
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"I'm in," Brigit said. Then she looked up at Tahira and raised her hand. "I'm in!"
Tahira scrunched her nose. "Fine," she said, making a note on her clipboard. "But now I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel here, people."
A few girls nearby laughed and two pink spots appeared on Brigit's cheeks. She rolled her eyes and turned to walk away. Lexa and Ariana followed, leaving Tahira and her pleas for volunteers behind.
"Don't let her get to you, Bridge," Lexa said, putting her hand on Brigit's back.
"She's not. I just have to go. I have to log my time on the treadmill," Brigit said quickly. "I'll see you guys later."
She took off for the state-of-the-art gymnasium at a speed walk. Ariana and Lexa paused to watch her go. "I don't know what I'm going to do with that girl," Lexa mused.
"What do you mean?" Ariana asked.
"Oh, nothing. It's just that Brigit can be her own worst enemy," Lexa replied. "With the eating thing and the Tahira thing. I mean, she's a junior now, and I've told her a million times that this is her last chance to get into the--"
Lexa abruptly stopped talking. Her gaze flicked to Ariana, and there was actual fear in her eyes. She swallowed hard and coughed, as if she'd just caught a fly with her tongue.
"Last chance to get into the what?" Ariana asked.
"I have to go," Lexa said, turning around and sprint-walking away, her brown hair flying.
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