Kiran turned and picked up a big black shopping bag from the floor, dangling the rope handles from her thumb.
"For you," she announced. "For having to endure four days all alone at Easton."
I was stunned. Did these girls use any excuse they could find to buy stuff? And why did I get the idea that this was more of an apology/bribe?
"What is it?" I asked.
"Open it!" Kiran exclaimed.
"You didn't have to do this," I said, taking the bag from her. It was heavy. I slipped a big, sleek box out, and Natasha grabbed the bag before it could hit the floor. I laid the box down on my bed and
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lifted the lid. A clean, crisp scent hit me in the face as tissue paper fluttered. The scent of wealth. I carefully unfolded the paper and froze. Inside the box was a black cashmere-and-wool coat with a tufted silk lining. The tag had one word embroidered on it: DiOR.
Natasha whistled.
"Kiran--"
"Isn't it delicious?" she asked, ripping the coat out of the box. She held it up to herself and twirled. "When I saw it, I knew you had to have it. You cannot keep walking around in that ratty blue thing."
Ratty blue thing. As in, my brand-new Lands' End coat that my dad had bought for me. Part of me was offended, even as I agreed with her. My outerwear just did not measure up to the outerwear of the rest of the Billings Girls, nor to that of anyone else at Easton. Except, maybe, for Kiki, who insisted on walking around campus in a puffy black parka with fur around the hood that made her look like a sausage with hair. Although I had a feeling that was some kind of statement, whereas my blue coat said only one thing: middle class.
"Thanks, Kiran," I said as she handed the coat over. "I love it."
"My turn," Ariana announced.
They each had a present for me. A red silk scarf from Ariana, a pair of Coach sunglasses from Noelle, and from Natasha, a book: The Lovely Bones.
'You got her a book?" Noelle said, as if I was holding a pile of dogdoo.
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Natasha ignored her. "It helps. Trust me. You might think it's weird at first, but it's good."
I smiled. "Thanks. But you guys didn't have to do this. Really. I have no idea why you did."
"There's nothing to do in New York but shop," Noelle said.
Yeah, right.
"There are other things to do in Atlanta, but I've done them all," Ariana added with a small smile.
I placed all my booty down on the bed and hooked my thumbs in the back pockets of my jeans. I could no longer avoid asking the obvious.
"So, where's Taylor?" I asked.
They all looked at one another in a way that made the hair on my arms stand up. Like, Do you want to tell her, or should I? Finally, Ariana took the bullet.
"Reed, Taylor's not coming back to school."
My brain whirled. "What? "
"She's taking some time off," Ariana said. "She needs a bit of a rest."
She whispered the last word and scrunched up her nose, as if it displeased her to say it. I looked at Kiran, who was very involved in toying with my new scarf.
"What the hell does that mean?" I asked.