Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

knows it."

"I know," Ariana sighed. She wound a lock of her wavy hair around her index finger and pulled it tight. She

wanted to tell Noelle that she wasn't certain she loved Daniel back, but she kept her gaze fixed on the ceiling.

She couldn't bring herself to say the words. She knew how Noelle would look back at her. Like Ariana had

lost her mind. Like she was crazy.

"Ariana," Noelle said quietly, sitting down at the foot of Ariana's bed. "Almost every girl at this school would

kill to be you." Implication: every girl at this school with the exception of Noelle, who was perfectly happy

being herself. "Daniel is totally and completely right for you," Noelle continued. "So stop freaking out."

"You're right," Ariana sighed. "Aren't I always?" Noelle held out her hand, and Ariana gave her back the

Hermes scarf. "I'm meeting Dash. When I get back, you'd better have your head on straight." She crossed to

her side of the room and pulled a small camcorder out from under her bed. "Dry spell?" Ariana laughed. "Not

for long." Noelle smirked, heading for the door. She opened it and stepped into the hall. Billings was

unusually quiet for a Sunday afternoon; most of the girls were probably still sleeping off hangovers from the

night before.

"Oh, and Ariana?" Noelle called over her shoulder. "Hmmm?" Ariana turned her head toward the door. "Only

an idiot would pass up a Daniel Ryan for a Thomas Pearson. That's obvious to the world, right?" Her dark

eyes flashed. Ariana's heart rose in her throat. She sat up quickly, banging her head on the headboard. "What?

Noelle, I don't-" But the slam of the door sliced through her voice. Ariana threw her pillow in frustration.

How did Noelle always know?

DISTANCE

***"Something more, something more, something more," Ariana whispered to herself, staring up at the

darkened ceiling from the comfort of her bed.

She hadn't moved in hours. Had just lain there obsessing about her unwritten paper. There was no way she

was going to be able to sleep until she had some kind of breakthrough. Luckily, Noelle was still with Dash, so

there was no one around to hear her talking to herself. Then, suddenly, her cell phone buzzed and she grabbed

it, more than happy to let whoever was calling get her out of her head. The second she saw the name on the

caller ID, her heart seized. It was already eleven o'clock. No good news came this late.

"Mom!" She sat up, propping a pillow behind her head. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Hi, baby." On the other end of the line, her mom sounded far away, lost. Empty. "Just wanted to hear your

voice, that's all. How's my angel?" "I'm great, Mom. Fine." A lump rose in Ariana's throat even as relief