Private (Private 1)

have an idea.” She rubbed her hands together, then dove in, pulling gray skirt. The fabric of the shell was softer than anything I had ever clothes out and hooking the hangers over her fingers. Once she’d touched.

gathered half a dozen items, she walked over to her bed and started

“Okay. Be right back,” I said, turning toward the bathroom.

laying them out.

“Aw, she’s shy,” Kiran teased.

“She thinks I’m a genius; wait till you see her at work,” Taylor

“What?” I said.

said quietly. “I always wished I was good with colors, but it’s very

“Just change,” Noelle said, impatiently. “You don’t have any-

rare to have both academic and artistic genius. Of course, there was thing we haven’t seen before. At least I hope you don’t.”

Leonardo DaVinci, Benjamin Franklin—”

I glanced at Taylor, who smiled encouragingly. Ariana simply

“Taylor,” Noelle snapped.

stared with those eerie blue eyes. Feeling beyond self-conscious, I Taylor reddened and pressed her lips together.

laid the clothes over Taylor’s desk chair, then unhooked my jeans

“What’s going on?” I asked.

and stepped out of them. The Billings Girls watched my every move.

“We are giving your wardrobe a makeover,” Noelle said.

It wasn’t as if I had never changed in front of girls before, but I’d

“You have gorgeous features, you know,” Kiran said. “You need

never had four people staring blatantly at me while I did it. I turned to learn to play them up.”

my back to them as I pulled off my T-shirt and quickly yanked on I flushed as I watched her pull items from her closet. Suddenly the shell. Even in my tense state I couldn’t help but notice how this felt a lot like charity. “I’ve never been big on fashion.”

amazing the buttery softness felt against my skin. Then I stepped

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into the skirt, the satin lining swishing coolly up my legs. I fastened

“Thus the reason you’re here,” Noelle said, rolling her eyes.

it quickly around my waist, covering up my cotton underpants as