Ambition (Private 7)

have any ideas yet?" "No. Not yet," I said shakily.

I popped the top off the Tylenol bottle with my thumb and let it fall to the floor. The two white pills lodged for a second in my dry

throat, but I managed to choke them down. "Do you want some water or something?" Sabine asked. "M'fine," I mumbled. I kicked off

my sneakers and tipped to the side so I could free my covers from under my butt without actually standing up. "You're going to bed?"

Sabine asked, her face falling. "But everyone's waiting for you downstairs to talk about the fund-raiser." "Tomorrow," I told her,

clicking off my desk light. I lay down fully clothed and pulled the covers up over my head, turning my back on her crestfallen face--on

my desk and everything it contained. All I wanted was to go to sleep and put the past two days behind me. Suddenly, I felt her weight

at the foot of my bed. I looked up to find Sabine sitting near my feet, looking at me with concern in the dim light coming through the

window.

"Is it Josh? Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. "Not now," I replied. "Because I know it's hard, having your heart broken,"

she said sympathetically. "Who broke your heart?" I muttered. There was the tiniest light of curiosity deep inside of me. Sabine had

never mentioned any exes before. "Me? Oh, no one. I've never had a real boyfriend," she told me, looking down at her hands. "But I

helped my sister through a horrible breakup. She said she would never have survived it if it wasn't for me. So maybe I can help you,

too." I managed a tight smile for her benefit. "Maybe. Just not tonight, okay? Right now all I want to do is sleep." "Okay," Sabine said

finally. "I'll go tell them." "Thanks." Sabine slipped out and closed the door with a quiet click. Part of me felt guilty for bailing on my

friends, but it was just one night. I could think about all of this tomorrow--about the fund-raiser and the black marbles and Dash and

Noelle and Josh and Ivy and everything else. Right now, I craved only the sweet release of sleep.

HUNTER BRADEN

The black marbles were still there in the morning. I had hoped to find when I woke up that they were just one of the many sick,

swirling dreams I had all night long, but when I opened the drawer, there they were. Not a figment of my subconscious, but real. Un-

willing to dwell on the circumstances of how they had gotten there, I gathered them all up, shoved them into a lone sock that had lost

its partner, and deposited the whole thing in the back of my bottom dresser drawer. After all, I might need them at the end of the year

when we voted on new members for the house. If, of course, the house lasted that long.

It didn't matter how the black marbles had wound up in my possession--who might have put them in my desk. It didn't. Today was

a new day. A new start. I had to focus. There was no time to dwell. No time to freak myself out. I showered, downed some more

Tylenol to take the edge off my stubbornly clinging headache, and dressed up for my first day as Single Reed. In-Charge Reed. A

Reed with a Purpose. Black skirt, black boots, light blue V-neck sweater. I was going to show the world that my breakup wasn't get-

ting to me--even though every time I thought about it, I felt like collapsing into a heap on the floor. At breakfast, I strolled over to my

usual table with Constance, Sabine, and Kiki in tow and waited for them to settle in among the rest of the Billings Girls. Then I placed

my tray at the end of the table and forced a bright smile. "Everyone, I have an idea." Silence fell. Kiki took the earbuds out of her ears.