Soomie rubbed Lexa’s back. “I’m sure Brigit’s laughing about it right now—her memorial service being turned into a photo-op.”

Lexa sighed sadly, l

ooking down at the green bangle bracelet she wore on her right wrist.

Ariana looked down at her own bracelet—just like Lexa’s, but in red. Soomie had one as well, in blue; Maria’s was orange; and Kaitlynn—much to Ariana’s revulsion—wore a purple one. The colorful set of bracelets had been Brigit’s favorite accessory. So when Brigit’s maid had come to take her things home, Lexa had asked if it would be all right for her and her friends to have the bracelets to remember her by.

“Life is so insane,” Kaitlynn mused, looking down at her bracelet as well. “Just a week ago, Brigit was wearing these . . . alive and well. . . .”

Ariana bit down on her tongue so hard she tasted blood. Kaitlynn took a deep breath and looked around at the group. Her eyes were full of bittersweet nostalgia. Fake. All of it fake.

“I think she’d be happy to know that we’re all going to carry a piece of her with us . . . forever.”

As the other girls nodded and sighed, Ariana grabbed her forearm and dug her fingers into the sleeve of her coat, trying to breathe.

In, one . . . two . . . three . . .

Out, one . . . two . . . three . . .

In, one . . . two . . . three . . .

Out, one . . . two . . . three . . .

It was the only way she could keep herself from reaching out and strangling Kaitlynn Nottingham right then and there.

All in good time, Ariana, she told herself. You’ll figure out a way. You always do. She looked up at Brigit’s photo one last time and clenched her jaw. I’m going to make this right, Brigit. I promise. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make this right.

A TRUE FRIEND

Ariana dressed quickly the following morning, hoping to slip out while Kaitlynn was in the shower. When Ariana’s welcome week team had won the three-part competition and earned the right to live in Privilege House, the plushest dorm on campus, she’d gotten a private bathroom to share only with her roommate. Unfortunately, that roommate had turned out to be Kaitlynn. None of the Privilege House boons could cancel out the nightmare of once again living with her worst enemy.

After Lexa’s impromptu soiree the night before, Ariana had gone to bed early, only to spend the entire night wide-awake and tense, her heart pounding with ire as she listened to the steady cadence of Kaitlynn’s quiet snore in the next bed. That Kaitlynn was allowed to remain alive and well and was sleeping peacefully while Brigit was rotting in the ground somewhere was so abysmally wrong, it was all Ariana could do to keep from jumping the girl and slitting her throat as she slept.

But that, of course, would have been messy.

The water in their private bathroom stopped running. Ariana quickly fastened her pearl earrings into her ears and reached for Brigit’s red bangle. She had just slipped it onto her wrist when Kaitlynn emerged from the bathroom, wrapping a towel around her slim body. The very sight of her made Ariana’s blood burn.

“Hey,” Kaitlynn said, glancing over Ariana’s outfit. “Wait up. We can walk over together.”

Ariana laughed bitterly. “You can’t be serious.”

Kaitlynn paused in front of her walk-in closet.

“Kaitlynn, you killed one of my best friends,” Ariana said, grabbing her book bag and slinging it over her shoulder. “The fact that I’m even talking to you right now is making me physically ill.”

Kaitlynn rubbed a towel over her short blond hair, still wet from the shower. “We were best friends once too, you know.”

Ariana paused with her hand on the doorknob. Against her better judgment, she looked at her roommate, and for a split second she saw that old vulnerability in Kaitlynn’s wide green eyes—that craving to be accepted and loved, which had sucked Ariana in during their time at the Brenda T.

But then Kaitlynn blinked, clenched her jaw, and turned away.

“Not really,” Ariana said, her skin prickling with heat over having almost let her guard down. “You were lying to me the entire time.”

Kaitlynn yanked a shirt off a hanger, then went to her dresser for a bra and underwear. “Like you never lied to me.”

Ariana released the doorknob and turned toward Kaitlynn. “I didn’t,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Kaitlynn dressed quickly, her back to Ariana, shaking her head as she buttoned up her white uniform shirt. “Right. So all that stuff about hating your life and being glad you never had to see any of those people again. How I was a better friend than they ever were. All that was true?” she asked, turning to glare at Ariana.

Tags: Kate Brian Privilege Mystery
Source: readsnovelonline.net