Perfect Mistake (Privilege 3)

She was not thinking about Palmer now. This morning, in the light of day, her priorities were clear again. She had to get Allison disqualified from the running for Stone and Grave. She had to save her friends, save herself. Whatever she had with Palmer, it wouldn't matter if she was dead.

But this was going to work. It had to. Ariana picked up her pen again and got back to work.

Earlier, when Tahira and Allison had stopped by to grab Kaitlynn and go to breakfast, it had been all Ariana could do to keep from laughing in Allison's haughty face. The girl was going down and she didn't even suspect it. Ariana couldn't wait to see her crumble when her chemistry teacher found

the cheat sheet.

She took a deep breath and glanced at the garbage can, in which lay her latest warning from Kaitlynn, hidden underneath a slew of crumpled tissues. Today she'd simply left Ariana a photo of Lexa, Soomie, Maria, and Brigit, printed off one of their Facebook pages, with a sloppy red line slashed across each of their necks. On the bottom was written:

EENE, MEANE, MINEY, MO... YOU HAVE SIX DAYS!

As far as Ariana knew, no one else had received any ominous gifties. Apparently Kaitlynn had been too drunk last night after her double date to attempt anything more intricate. Thank goodness. If she'd tried, Ariana was sure she would have woken up without a nose or a foot.

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There was a quick knock at her door and then it opened. Ariana quickly slid Allison's page under the notebook and turned to a clean one.

"Whatcha doing?" Lexa asked, all smiles. She wore a pair of blue linen shorts, a short--sleeved white blouse with eyelet detailing, and tall espadrilles with thick laces crisscrossing her ankles.

Ariana felt guilty at the very sight of her, knowing that she had betrayed Lexa so very deeply the night before. It didn't matter that Lexa had been out on a date with Conrad, as Ariana had so lamely rationalized last night. She still had feelings for Palmer, and Ariana had made a mockery of those feelings.

She would not do it again. Palmer would simply have to wait until Ariana was sure Lexa was over him.

"Just jotting down some thoughts for the Ash meeting on Monday," Ariana replied, turning in her seat. "I want to make sure I'm prepared."

"Oh, April's going to love you," Lexa said with a wave of her hand. She jumped onto Ariana's bed, landing on her knees and bouncing once. "Don't worry about that."

"You're in a good mood," Ariana noted.

Lexa blushed and swung her legs around so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Well, first of all, there were no pink jewelry boxes lying around this morning, so either the Fellows got bored or they figured out we're on to them," she said. "And Conrad and I are spending the whole day together. He's taking me out on his uncle's boat."

162

"Wow," Ariana said, impressed. "A whole day together. Sounds like you two are going places."

Lexa grinned and toyed with the fringe that was attached to the zipper on her sporty bag. "We may be going to the NoBash together, if today goes well."

Ariana's heart did a series of manic somersaults. This was all so very good. So good that it even eased her guilt, just a bit.

"That's incredible, Lexa. I'm so happy for you," Ariana said.

Lexa got up and put her arms out at her sides. "Palmer who, right?"

"Right." Ariana got up and gave her friend a hug. "Good luck today. I'm sure it's going to be incredible."

"Thanks, Ana," Lexa said with a smile. "And don't think I don't know you had something to do with this."

Ariana's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean?"

"Inviting Connie to lunch, having him meet up with us everywhere," Lexa said, giving Ariana a sly look. "You're a little matchmaker, aren't you?"

A blush crept up Ariana's neck and onto her cheeks. "You're not mad, are you?"

"Are you kidding? I always knew Connie, but I never really knew him," Lexa said. "If it weren't for you, I never would have found out that the perfect guy was jogging past me every morning on the cross country trail."

"Well then, I'm glad I could help," Ariana replied. "Have fun today."