That sneer got right under my already taut skin. "You think you're so superior, don't you? You people with your rituals and your sister-
hood crap and your blackball ceremonies," Ivy said, her eyes narrowing. "Well, guess what, Reed? It's your turn now. Your turn to
find out what it feels like to be blackballed. We're going to see how you like it." I couldn't breathe. All I could see were those black
marbles in my desk drawer. She had put them there. She had to have put them there. Why else would she be saying these things to
me? Ivy was my stalker. She had somehow gotten her hands on a key to Billings, whether by stealing Kiki's or getting one in the of-
fice or finding one some other way--it didn't matter. However she had done it, she was guilty. There was no other explanation.
"I've never done anything to you," I said through my teeth, trembling from head to toe. "I barely even know you. Why are you do-
ing this to me?" Ivy smiled evilly. "Haven't done anything. Yet." She turned to go and I instinctively reached out and grabbed her.
"Stop lying, you freak." Her eyes went wide as she looked at my fingers on her arm. "You little-" "Ivy!" Josh came up behind her and
touched her shoulder just as she made a move to attack. To hit me, push me, scratch me? I had no idea. But the touch of his fingers
stopped her. "Come on," he said in her ear. Right in her ear. Their cheeks touching. Josh's skin against hers. I was going to throw up.
"Come on. Let's get out of here," he said in that soothing voice I knew so well. It sent shivers of regret and longing and pain down my
spine. "You don't need this. Let's just go." Ivy bent her head forward. Leaned her shoulder into him. "Fine. I'll go." Josh turned away,
his hand now on her back. He never looked at me. Not once. "But this isn't over," Ivy said to me as he tugged her along. Said loud
enough for every salivating student in the solarium to hear. "You just sealed it, Reed. Billings is going down. And I'm taking down ev-
ery last one of you with it."
***
Ivy. It was her. I was sure of it now. She hated Billings. She hated me. Maybe she even had some sort of sick, twisted, leftover loy-
alty to Cheyenne. She was the one messing with me. She had to be.
As I walked back to Billings with my friends, my hands shoved deep inside my pockets, the cold air clearing out my senses, it all
made perfect sense. Maybe Cheyenne was the one who had ended their friendship. If what Noelle had said was true--that Ivy had
turned down the invite to Billings--then Cheyenne might very well have cut the girl off. Nothing meant more to her than Billings. She
never would have been able to accept the fact that someone didn't want to be there as much as she did. So maybe Cheyenne had ended
their friendship, but Ivy still loved her. Maybe Ivy felt as if Billings had been responsible for the end of her friendship, for the end of
her best friend's life. And now... now she was taking it out on me. "Reed? Reed, where are you right now?" Tiffany asked, leaning for-
ward to get into my line of sight as we reached the front door.
"Just thinking," I replied. Oddly enough, I actually felt relieved. Happy. Safe. There was a theory that made sense. One that even
exonerated all my friends. I couldn't believe that I had ever suspected any of them. Astrid, Shelby, even Missy. I hated Ivy for making
me into a paranoid freak who thought her friends were plotting against her. But at the same time, I was ecstatic to know that I was safe
among my friends. Everything was going to be fine. "Don't waste any of your brain space on Ivy," Tiffany said, rolling her eyes. "The