Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

didn't move an inch.

The footsteps continued down the stairs, and Ariana tugged with her last bit of strength. She wasn't ready to

leave Easton. It couldn't

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be over for her yet. Anxious fear swept through her, and she found the strength to drag Thomas completely

under the stairs and out of sight.

He mumbled something in his sleep, and the footsteps above them paused. She pressed her hand over

Thomas's mouth, praying he wouldn't try to speak again. The footsteps resumed slowly, tentatively, as they

navigated the darkness.

"Shit." A male voice sounded just inches from their hiding place. The bottom step cracked under the man's

weight, and he stumbled into the basement. The flashlight fell to the floor and sliced across the room,

spinning underneath the gardening table in the middle of the space. A sharp white light glowed parallel to the

staircase, inches from Thomas's foot.

Ariana stopped breathing.

Please. Please, no, no, no.A dark silhouette stepped into view and bent down to pick up the flashlight.

Carefully, quietly, she leaned forward and peeked through the crack between the furnace and the stairwell.

Residual light from the beam was just bright enough for Ariana to make out the outline of a familiar figure

crouched under the table.

Mr. Holmes.

What the hell was her lit teacher doing in the Drake basement?

Warm dread trickled through Ariana's veins. It didn't matter why he was there. All that mattered was that he

couldn't find her there. Of all the teachers she'd ever had at Easton, she had always respected him the most.

He was smart and funny and good. And he believed the same about her. She needed him to believe the same

about her.

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But all that would be over if he found her on campus illegally, covered in blood, cradling the passed-out body

of Easton's resident drug dealer

in her arms.

Ariana bit her lip, hard. How had she ended up here? What was the matter with her? She was a Billings Girl,

one of Easton's elite. This was not how she was supposed to be spending her Christmas break, hiding out like