Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

Ariana stared at Thomas in disbelief. "They'd do that?"

Thomas nodded. "They warned me after the last time Headmaster Cox called them. Some freshman told the

Wesley advisor that I sold him Adderall."

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"Did you?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Ungrateful prick," Thomas muttered. He turned and strode over to the elevator as if he hadn't just admitted

to being a drug dealer. "Let's go," he threw over his shoulder. "You've got a bet to lose."

138

THE BET

***"I can't believe I'm doing this," Ariana said, standing outside the door to Daniel's dorm room. "He'd kill

me."

"Kill you, huh? Sounds like a winner," Thomas teased.

Ariana shot him a look of death and shoved the door open. Piles of dirty sports uniforms, back issues of ESPN

magazine, and protein bar wrappers covered the floor. His dresser exploded with clothes, and a bowl of half -

eaten cereal sat on his desk.

"This is nasty," Thomas announced, eyeing a pair of grass- and mud-stained shorts on Daniel's bed. "Even for

a dude."

"He doesn't have a lot of time to clean," Ariana said, wrinkling her nose as she stepped over a lacrosse

helmet.

"Oh, right. Because he's so busy with all his clubs and teams and being First every semester. Message

received," Thomas replied.

Embarrassed that he'd read her so easily, Ariana turned away and automatically started picking up after

Daniel, folding clothes that

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looked clean and swiping the dirty ones into his hamper. As she was trying to shove a T-shirt inside, Thomas

pulled it away from her and dumped the entire contents out in front of the closet doors. "What are you

doing?" Ariana wailed.

Thomas rifled through the clothes. "Proof enough?" he asked, lifting a lacy camisole from the mess. "Either

your boy is getting some on the side, or he likes to play dress-up. Either way, you lose."

"That's mine." Ariana smiled, snatching the cami away from him. "Glad you like it, though."