Revelation (Private 8)

friends. Her sisters.

When Ariana was just a few feet away, she noticed that Isabella Bautista, a senior who had taken

Ariana under her wing at the beginning of the year, was playing with her violet D&G heels under

the table, letting them swing from her toes as she gazed around the ballroom. Suddenly the right

one fell off and landed a few inches away from her foot. Ariana watched as Isabelle scooched

down in her chair as casually as possible to retrieve it. As she was fishing around with her toes, she

brushed Noelle Lange's ankle, and Noelle whacked her boyfriend Dash McCafferty's arm.

"You're playing footsie with me? What are we, twelve?" Noelle joked.

"Wasn't me," Dash replied, flashing a killer smile. "But I'll play any time you want."

Isabella finally shoved her foot into her shoe and sat up again, admitting to nothing, but the

snapshot of normality soothed Ariana. She smiled and finally joined them.

"There you are," Noelle said, flipping her thick dark mane of hair over her shoulder as Ariana

slipped into her chair. Noelle was, as always, wearing her signature black--a sleek satin Adam &

Eve dress that showed off all her curves. "I was beginning to think you'd nicked a bottle of Dash's

contraband Cristal and gone streaking through the streets of Easton."

Noelle took a sip of champagne from her crystal flute--the champagne Dash had paid off the

waiters to serve their table in lieu of sparkling cider, since alcohol was prohibited at school

functions--

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and then took a bite of a chocolate-covered strawberry. Noelle was Ariana's best friend at Easton.

They balanced each other well. Noelle was more brazen and confident, where Ariana was more

reserved and cautious. During their hazing period at Billings, Noelle had helped Ariana through

more than one crisis of confidence, while Ariana had helped Noelle refrain from telling off the

older sisters on more than one occasion. She was sure that neither of them would have made it

through initiation without the other.

"Noelle, streaking is so gauche," Ariana admonished as she took a seat beside Daniel. She

smoothed her white, layered Alberta Ferretti dress over her knees and wrapped her hands around

the seat of her raw silk-covered chair. "I was just taking it all in. The social committee did an

incredible job."

"I swear, if you start rhapsodizing about the engraving on the silverware, I will kill you." Noelle