Ominous (Private 13)
“What do they do with the fish after the party?” Tiffany asked.
“Don’t get your La Perlas in a twist, green girl. Daddy’s going to take them all home for his personal collection,” Noelle said. She tore off a piece of her bagel and popped it into her mouth, looking at me mischievously. “He’s paying for the whole thing, you know.”
A huge rock formed between my heart and my throat, and my hand automatically went to the locket again. I suddenly became very interested in my cereal.
“Really? That’s nice of him,” Tiffany said, eyeing me curiously.
“Why would he do that?” Portia asked, lifting her fork. “No offense.”
I shrugged and gave them a tight smile.
“He just knows how very close Reed and I are,” Noelle said, spearing an egg slice. “I mean, we’re practically sisters.”
I choked on my orange juice and a little bit of it went up my nose.
“All right, Reed?” Noelle prompted.
“Yeah. Sure.”
I managed another smile and took a deep breath, trying not to cough again.
“Reed! What an amazing locket,” Portia said suddenly, reaching for the pendant, which I hadn’t realized I was still toying with. “It’s so … unique.” She ran her thumb over the surface. “Definitely an antique. Where did you get it?”
I shot Noelle a panicked look. “Um, I got it at a rummage sale when I was home.”
Portia scrunched her nose. “What’s a rummage sale?”
“Would you let go of her already, P?” Noelle demanded. “She’s turning blue.”
Portia released me and I sat up straight again, righting the locket and rubbing at the back of my neck where the chain had cut into my skin. Portia was still sizing up the necklace out of the corner of her eye as she took a bite of her fruit salad.
“You should have that appraised. It could be worth something,” she said.
I glanced at Noelle, feeling hot under my arms and around my collar.
“Yeah,” I said. “Maybe I will.”
Kiki and Astrid arrived, dropping into the chairs next to Tiffany and Portia. Then Lorna, Amberly, and Vienna crowded into the last few seats, adjusting their trays on the table so everything fit.
“Check this out,” Astrid said, lifting her chin toward the head table where the headmaster and the tenured teachers usually sat. My blood turned cold when I saw that Mr. Hathaway was holding out a chair near the head of the table for Demetria Rosewell. She wore a winter white suit that made her black hair stand out even from across the room. She shook her curls back as she sat and gave a thin-lipped smile as the headmaster introduced the teachers around her.
“Why has she been hovering so much lately?” I said under my breath.
“I can tell you why.”
A chill shot down my back as Missy Thurber leaned toward me from behind. She rested one hand on the back of my chair and the other on the corner of the table. She must have been walking down the aisle behind me when I’d posed my question. She smelled of lavender perfume and peanut butter—a gag-inducing combination—and I held my breath. Constance and London hovered at the end of the table. From the corner of my eye I saw Sawyer Hathaway, my friend and the headmaster’s son, stand up from his table. He had a worried look on his boyishly handsome face, like he was anticipating a fight.
“I don’t think anyone here was talking to you, Missy,” Noelle snapped.
Missy stood up straight, mercifully giving me room to breathe, and moved to stand next to her friends. Lifting her chin so that I could practically see her brain through her huge nostrils, she addressed the entire table with the air of a girl who knew she was about to drop a serious bomb.
“Demetria Rosewell and Paige Ryan have decided to donate a few million dollars to the school to have Billings House rebuilt,” she said snidely.
My heart skipped an excited beat. Billings was going to be rebuilt?
“Why do I have a feeling that’s not everything?” Noelle asked, lowering her fork.
“Well, Demetria has been convening with the board the past few nights, coming up with a list of requirements for admission to the dorm,” Missy said. “But they’ve already decided on one thing.” She turned and lo