Beautiful Disaster (Privilege 2)

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GLORY

"Pull! Pull! Come on, you losers, pull!" Ariana shouted, straining her voice to its limit. The wind tore at her face and coaxed tears from the corners of her eyes as the boat zipped across the water. In her peripheral vision, she could see both blue and gray gaining on them. How was this possible? How could they be so close when she had spent the wee hours of the morning sabotaging their boats?Apparently, Team Gold really did suck.

"Dig in, you guys! You've got this! Pull!" Ariana cried, sitting forward.

She could hear the guys grunting, straining for every last ounce of strength. Stray cheers floated across the water now and then, niggling at her nerves. She looked up at the finish line. Almost there.

"This is it, guys. The last stretch! This is Privilege House! Now pull! Pull! Pull!" Ariana screamed. She could see blue's cox now. Their boat was inching up. Inching up to meet gold's. Or were they ahead? Ariana couldn't tell. It was far too close to tell.

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"Pull! Pull! Pull!"

And then, they were over the finish line. An air horn blared. There was a suspended moment of silence as the guys dropped their oars and looked up, sweat pouring down their faces and necks. The boat continued to glide away from the crowds as everyone waited for the announcement.

"What the hell happened?" Palmer a

sked, looking up at Ariana. "Was it just me or did we just--"

"And the winner of the crew race is . . . the gold team!" Headmaster Jansen announced.

"Yes!" Palmer thrust his fists in the air as the rest of the boat celebrated. Ariana would have killed to hug him, but it wasn't possible from where they were both sitting. Back on the shore, the hundred or so members of Team Gold celebrated, jumping up and down and dancing around and screaming their congratulations toward the boat. Ariana laughed and leaned back, looking up at the sun.

Privilege House was hers.

Back on shore a few minutes later, Ariana was greeted by her friends with hugs and backslaps and squeals of joy. Tahira jumped into Rob's sweaty arms, and Landon managed to give Maria a real kiss in all the mayhem, though he followed it up with cheek kisses for several other girls, including Soomie, just to be safe. Adam hugged Brigit for a tad longer than was absolutely necessary, so it seemed as if Lexa's plan was working there. Everyone had someone to celebrate with, except Ariana, but she wasn't going to let it get her down. Her adrenaline was still rushing through her veins as she took this in. All she wanted

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to do was get moving. Get back to Cornwall and pack her stuff. See what the inside of Privilege House was like. Start taking advantage of those privileges. Start truly showing the members of this secret society what she was all about. She did notice, however, that Lexa did not immediately jump Palmer's bones, but figured it had something to do with the fact that Palmer was down by the edge of the water with the other two team captains and the headmaster.

Headmaster Jansen called the crowd to order, standing near the edge of the water in a short-sleeved button down shirt and khakis. There was a huge gold trophy situated on a table to her left.

"Congratulations to Team Gold for a fantastic win!" she announced. The gold team members exploded in cheers while the rest of the student body applauded politely. "Palmer, why don't you come over here and collect your trophy?"

Palmer acknowledged the cheers with a modest wave as he walked by Elizabeth and Martin, then thrust the trophy overhead with both hands. As the din died down, Headmaster Jansen laughed.

"All right now, it's time to bring the Welcome Week events to a close with the shedding of the colors," she said. All around Ariana, students removed their armbands and tossed them on the ground at their feet. She quickly untied her own and let it fall. "From here on out we are one school with one purpose," Headmaster Jansen announced.

"Yeah, but tonight, gold is gonna party!" Landon shouted, earning hoots and hollers from his teammates.

Ariana grinned. She knew that, in fact, everyone was going to party that night. There was a school-wide soiree scheduled for that evening

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as the official close of Welcome Week and the official start of the school year. Now Ariana was looking forward to it more than ever. It would be the first event at Atherton-Pryce where she could fully relax. Palmer walked over to join his team with the trophy and everyone gathered around him. Ariana slipped to the front of the crowd.

"Congratulations, Captain," she said.

"Congratulations, Cox," he replied.

Then he reached down and hugged her, all sweaty and smelly and perfect. Ariana closed her eyes and savored the moment. In her heart she felt as if they had both engineered their win. He had led the team in the spotlight, while she had led behind the scenes. This was their moment of glory. A moment she'd remember forever.

"Lexa!" Palmer shouted, suddenly releasing Ariana. His face turned red as he glanced guiltily at Ariana and wiped his free palm on his shorts. "There you are, love of my life!" he crowed. Ariana stepped back, feeling sour. Way to overcompensate, Palmer.

Lexa jogged over and jumped into Palmers arms, planting her lips on his. He held her tightly in his arms, the trophy still clutched in one hand behind her back. Team Gold cheered for the couple as if they were the ones who had won the competition for them. As if Lexa had anything to do with anything. Ariana had to take another step back to keep from being smacked in the head by the trophy. Her entire body flushed with anger and searing jealousy from head to toe. That was her moment-- hers and Palmer's--and Lexa had just ripped it away from her.