Sweet Deceit (Privilege 4)

“All I know is, the barber in town is going to get a lot of business tomorrow,” Palmer said with a laugh, popping a few more pieces of gum in his mouth. “Thanks to Ana.”

Ariana felt Kaitlynn tense up next to her. Unbelievable. She had nothing to do with the idea, but already she felt so proprietary about it that she was offended over being left out.

“And Lily, of course,” Palmer added graciously. The other boys whooped their appreciation.

Kaitlynn smiled. Ariana sighed in relief and allowed herself to bask in the attention. If she kept this up, she was going to get into Stone and Grave no problem. The future was hers.

And it felt good.

SHOO-INS

Ariana could not stop laughing. All around her, her fellow Privilege House denizens—and probable Stone and Gravers—were doubled over at the table, or trying desperately to keep their faces straight. But it was next to impossible. Every few minutes another student with half-chopped hair would walk by the table with his head ducked and a new wave of laughter would burst forth. The oddest thing was, it seemed as if every badly shorn student was, in fact, male, which meant the Fellows were all fellows.

“Omigod! Have you guys seen Martin Tsang?” Maria asked, slipping into a chair near the end of the table next to Ariana. “He looks like someone took a pair of garden shears to his head!”

“While blindfolded,” Soomie added, cracking the first small smile Ariana had seen on her in days.

Ariana glanced over at Martin’s table, giggling happily. He looked around and, finally unable to take the stares any longer, whipped out a gray skullcap and yanked it on over his hair. Ariana and her friends cracked up all over again.

“ To Lily and Ana,” Palmer said, lifting his glass of orange juice at the head of the table.

Ariana beamed across at Kaitlynn, who sat up a little straighter as the entire table full of students raised their glasses as well.

“ To Lily and Ana!” they all chorused loudly, earning curious glances from students throughout the dining hall.

Ariana and Kaitlynn grinned as their friends swigged their juice and coffee in their honor. Tahira and Allison both shifted moodily in their seats, clearly annoyed at having been left out of the fun.

“Um, have I mentioned thank you?” Kaitlynn whispered, leaning across the table toward Ariana as she placed her juice glass down amid the many plates and bowls and cups.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Ariana replied happily.

Kaitlynn grinned back, and for the first time Ariana was truly certain that Kaitlynn was starting to believe in her friendship. She couldn’t stop smiling as she speared a piece of scrambled egg with her fork and popped it into her mouth. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw Palmer get up and walk around the table toward her. She glanced over at Lexa, her heart pounding, but for the moment Lexa was deep in conversation with Conrad and April.

“Hey, Ana,” Palmer said, arriving at the end of the table. “Can I talk to you?”

Ariana felt Kaitlynn staring and her neck started to heat up. “Sure.”

She pushed herself up from her chair, and she and Palmer shuffled over towar

d the wall.

“What’re you doing?” Ariana whispered, glancing over her shoulder at their table.

“I just had to tell you . . . this whole prank thing has really upped your stock with the members,” Palmer said, pride gleaming in his eyes.

Ariana’s heart fluttered with excitement. “Wait, so are you telling me . . . ?”

Palmer grinned mischievously.

“You are. You’re actually telling me straight-out that you’re in—”

“Yes, I’m telling you straight out that I’m in,” he replied flatly. “Which you already figured out, so really I’m not telling you anything you didn’t already know.”

Ariana pressed her lips together, overwhelmed with happiness that Palmer was trusting her with such a huge secret.

“After all this, you and Lily are practically shoo-ins,” he told her, dropping his voice to a whisper as a couple of tweed-clad faculty members strolled by.

Ariana couldn’t wait to tell Kaitlynn. “Really?”