while a pock-faced boy selected his candy bar of choice. When he turned and saw me, he started

visibly then slid away from me like I was on fire. I shook my head and started to feed my coins into

the machine. People really were just so juvenile.

"Hello, Glass-Licker."

Amberly Carmichael strode into the alcove and leaned one shoulder up against the vending

machine, so close I could smell the minty freshness of her breath. She wore a pristine white

sweater coat with a faux fur collar and that aqua blue scarf around her neck. Her blue eyes

narrowed as she stared me down. Even up close, her resemblance to Ariana was enough to chill

my bones.

"You don't get to call me that," I said through my teeth.

"Actually, I think I can call you whatever I want," she said. "You've become that insignificant. It

would be sad, really, if you didn't deserve it."

I simply stared at her. I was so stunned by her audacity, I couldn't even begin to address it.

"Listen, Reed." She said my name as if its four letters polluted her mouth. "I heard everything you

said to Noelle this morning. You

151

should really work on your blackmail voice," she said, lowering her own voice to a near whisper. "I

know about the disc. And if you think for one second that I am going to let you make any of that

information public, you are sorely mistaken."

Laughter bubbled from my lips. "Oh, am I?"

A cold, angry look flashed across Amberly's face and my heart halted. Ariana. So Ariana. "I would

do anything to protect my Billings sisters."

Even as my mind drew the disturbing comparisons between this nut job and the other, I had to

laugh again. I couldn't help it. Whatever airs she was trying to put on, whoever she was trying to

morph into, this little upstart had been in Billings for a few days. I had been there for over a year.

Those girls were more my sisters than they would ever be hers.

"I'm glad you think this is so hilarious," Amberly said, putting her hands behind her back. "But I

want that disc, and if you don't get it to me by tomorrow evening, you are going to be very sorry."

I could just imagine what amounted to consequences in Amberly's world. "What're you going to

do? Throw a Build-A-Bear at my head like your little friend did to you?"

Tags: Kate Brian Private
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