Revelation (Private 8)

toyed with one of the branches on the mini Christmas tree Sabine had given me, avoiding my gaze.

"And what the hell do you mean, the best friend you ever had? You hated Cheyenne," I added.

Ivy snorted a laugh and tipped her head forward for a moment to look at the floor. "Maybe at the

end, but that doesn't mean I completely forgot about ten years of friendship. Haven't you ever had

a love-hate relationship?"

My mind immediately flashed on Noelle, but I said nothing.

"So that's what you based this whole thing on?" she asked, lifting her pointy shoulders. "A couple

of stupid pranks I pulled and some story I told you at the fund-raiser?"

My heart quivered nervously. Here it was. The moment of truth.

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"No. That wasn't all," I said. I leaned back against my desk chair and braced myself. "I kind of snuck

into your room and found the jewelry box and the broken necklace and the photo of you guys with

all the faces X'd out but yours."

"You went through my stuff!?" Ivy shouted. She turned and put her hands on top of her head as if

she were trying to keep her brain from exploding. "Oh my God. Forget Cheyenne. I might just have

to kill you!"

"Ivy, you've gotta understand," I said, sounding desperate, and hating that I sounded desperate. I

could not believe that I had been put in the position of begging for forgiveness from this girl. It was

like the whole world had been turned upside down. But she was right. I had totally violated her

privacy. And for no good reason, it turned out. "I thought you had been in my room half a dozen

times before. I thought you were stalking me. I had to do what I had to do."

"What? Stalking you?" she asked, breathless. Then she stared at the wall as if she were slowly

remembering and processing something. "Omigod, that's why they were asking me all those

questions about you and your room and your e-mail." She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"They kept showing me this picture of you and Cheyenne with your faces crossed out like the one

they found in my room. I was so confused."

"That picture showed up on my desk last week, so when you had one just like it in your room, I

thought... I thought you were trying to send a message or something."

Ivy glared at me, her black eyes sharp. "I don't know who messed

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