Sweet Deceit (Privilege 4)

“Hey,” Ariana said, sliding into the empty seat next to Allison. The girl’s tall frame was slumped in her chair, and her blue-and-gold APH tie was loosely knotted over h

er light blue shirt. Her short blond curls were tucked behind her ears in a careless way, and her fingernails had been bitten down to nubs. Still, she was one of the more stunning girls in the room.

Allison and Tahira shot each other an intrigued look as Kaitlynn took the chair next to Tahira.

“Ladies,” Kaitlynn said by way of greeting.

“How are you?” Tahira asked Ariana with surprisingly genuine interest. Her appearance was also surprisingly understated. Normally the girl managed to make her APH uniform as skimpy as possible, but today her shirt had only two buttons undone and she wore less eye makeup than usual.

“Okay, I guess. Not great,” Ariana replied, lifting a shoulder. “You?”

“It’s really weird around here without her,” Tahira said, her dark eyes guarded. “Who am I going to spar with from now on?”

Even though Tahira and Allison hadn’t liked Brigit much, Ariana knew they had been affected by her tragic death. Everyone had.

The waiter approached and took their breakfast order, scribbling down Tahira’s very specific dietary instructions and raising an eyebrow when Ariana asked for extra butter and syrup with her pancakes. Now was definitely the time to indulge in comfort food.

“So,” Ariana said, folding her arms on the table as the waiter scurried off.

“So,” Tahira replied, taking a breath.

They all looked at one another as if they didn’t know where or how to start having a normal conversation.

Across the room, Quinn, a pretty, preppy sophomore, approached, and her two friends, Jessica and Melanie, delivered steaming lattes to Lexa, Soomie, and Maria. At the beginning of the year Ariana had thought the sophomores’ constant errand running was just general cool-senior worship, but now she realized that Quinn and the other girls were probably also gunning for spots in Stone and Grave next year—trying to impress the girls whom they assumed were members.

“What do we think about Hell Week?” Ariana asked quietly, deciding to go with the one topic they all had in common. She glanced around to make sure no one was listening. At the next table, a pair of boys intensely scribbled out their calculus homework, and behind Ariana a group of freshman girls gabbed about Halloween costumes. “I assumed it was going to start the night of the NoBash, since we were all supposed to have our tasks completed by then, but then . . .”

“Do you think they’re still going to have it?” Allison shifted in her seat. “I mean, considering?” She cast a brief look toward Ariana’s usual table and Ariana automatically followed suit. Soomie picked at her food while Lexa and Maria watched the taps with interest. Snagged, Maria looked away, but Lexa simply lifted her fingers in a wave, not at all embarrassed about being caught.

“Of course they are,” Tahira whispered. “This is Stone and Grave. Hundreds of years of tradition can’t just be ignored because of one—”

She stopped there and blushed as she looked down at her untouched silverware. For a moment, no one spoke. Ariana wondered if the sickened feeling in her heart would ever go away.

“So, Tahira . . . did you ever complete your task?” Ariana asked. Each pledge had been assigned a task to complete by the NoBash.

“Why? Are you suddenly concerned I won’t get in?” Tahira asked facetiously. Of course, both Tahira and Ariana knew why Ariana was really asking. Tahira’s task was to humiliate a donor, and she’d threatened to humiliate Ariana. Briana Leigh’s family had donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the school to get her in.

“Just curious,” Ariana said, casually lifting her shoulders as their food arrived. Her plate of pancakes was steaming hot and smelled deliciously buttery. Ariana’s stomach grumbled for the first time in more than a week. Mourning for Brigit had pretty much destroyed her appetite, but now that she had a plan in mind, she was more than ready to make up for lost time. “Did you find a donor to humiliate?”

Tahira daintily speared a grape with her fork. “Yes, I did.”

“You told her what your task was?” Allison gasped, leaning forward. “You wouldn’t even tell me!”

“Calm it, Al,” Tahira said tersely. “I had my reasons.”

Allison dropped back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest to mope.

“Well? What’d you do?” Kaitlynn asked, leaning an elbow on the table. She’d ordered a bagel and lox, which so far had gone untouched. “Who’d you humiliate?”

“Well, you know Malaya was at the NoBash?” Tahira said, placing her fork down. “She was talking to all of these dignitaries and gurus and whatnot, so I went over and started asking her really specific questions about Buddhism, since that’s supposed to be her new big obsession and everything,” she said, waving a hand around dismissively.

“I thought she was into kabbalah.” Allison took a large bite of her English muffin.

“Yeah. That was during her last world tour,” Tahira said, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, of course she didn’t actually know anything about Buddhism even though she’s been quoted as saying it changed her life and all that crap,” Tahira said. “She was so embarrassed, she faked a phone call from one of her kids and left the party.”

Kaitlynn and Allison laughed.

“Well, good. I’m glad you got it done in time,” Ariana said.