Ambition (Private 7)

boxed up and sent home with her parents." Not all of it. I swallowed against my suddenly dry throat. Cheyenne had the black marbles?

Cheyenne? Then how the hell had they gotten into my desk drawer over the weekend? Cheyenne's parents had carted away her things

weeks ago. Unless someone had lifted them before then. Had someone been planning to do this all along? And if so, who? "I guess

we'll have to replace all of that before the end of the year," Rose mused with a shrug, not knowing that the info she had imparted was

causing me to have major heart palpitations. "Great. Where are we supposed to find a lantern like that?" "Not a clue," I replied. Al-

though maybe it would just appear in my room somewhere.

CREME DE LA CREME

After an intense soccer practice and a hot shower I was feeling almost normal. Definitely lighter. Somewhat positive, even. I could

do this. I could live without Josh. Sure, the dread I had felt all day at the possibility of bumping into him around every turn had taken

its toll, but the exercise and scrub-down had rejuvenated me. For the first time all day, I felt able to breathe.

As I slipped into my navy blue Easton Academy sweats and brushed my damp hair, I realized something was off. It was too quiet.

Way too quiet. Normally at this time of night, London and Vienna were blasting that annoying club music they loved, Constance was

in the hall blabbing to Whit on her cell, and Missy and Lorna were running in and out of their room to Portia's or the Twin Cities',

slamming doors every five seconds. But right now there was nothing. Total silence. Considering everything that had been going on

lately, my pulse raced with trepidation. Anything out of the ordinary had the potential for disaster. I put my brush down on my dresser

and opened the door quietly, peeking my head out. Nothing. No one. Where were they? "Sabine? Noelle?" I called out. "Constance?"

No response. Okay. There was a logical explanation for this. Maybe they had all gone over to Coffee Carma in Mitchell Hall. Or

everyone was downstairs studying. Yes. That was it. All I had to do was go downstairs and there they'd be. I crept out of my room and

tiptoed down the stairs, realizing how silly I would have looked to anyone who spotted me, but there was no one there to see. Nothing

but the dead silence. I hit the floor of the lobby, saw something move out of the corner of my eye, and froze. "Surprise!"

My heart hit my throat, but two seconds later relief washed over me. The entire population of Billings was gathered in the parlor,

champagne glasses raised. Silver bowls of strawberries and trays of chocolates were laid out on every table. Fifteen faces grinned at

me as I joined them. "What's going on?" I asked. "Reed Brennan, it's time to play Find Your Rebound!" Vienna announced, shoving a

filled champagne flute into my hand. "Find my what?" I asked. "We couldn't think of a good name for it," Noelle said, rising graceful-

ly from her chair at the crux of the seating U. "Basically, we are going to help you find a man to distract you in your time of need."

She lifted a hand toward the wall behind me and I turned to find that the old group shots of Billings sisters had been cleared away,

replaced by three huge corkboards. On each corkboard were several glossy eight-by-ten photos of various Easton guys, and below

each photo was an index card displaying the subject's vitals: name, age, class rank, hometown, net worth. The really important stuff.

"Someone absolutely perfect," Sabine added with a grin, standing next to me.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked warily. "You're not all going to start theorizing about horses again, are you? " Every-