anyone have an EpiPen?" he shouted, wheeling around. The ladies and gentlemen in the crowd looked at him like he was a lion on a rampage. "Someone here has to have one."
"Here!"
Suddenly Ariana's bag was ripped from her grasp. Kaitlynn yanked out the EpiPen and, without a second glance at Ariana, rushed toward Tahira, who was now prone on the floor, her eyes rolling back in her head. Kaitlynn handed the pen to the doctor, who quickly exposed the needle and shoved it into Tahira's arm.
Ariana watched all this as if it was happening in slow motion. Her plan was going up in smoke, with Kaitlynn lighting the fire beneath it. She couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't feel a thing other than despair. The room started to blur around her, everyone moving in slow motion.
Why? Why was Kaitlynn doing this? The girl had been about to get exactly what she wanted. Ariana knew that Tahira's friendship couldn't mean that much to her. No one had ever meant that much to Kaitlynn. So what the hell was she doing?
Soon Tahira was breathing again. Rob and Zuri carefully helped her sit up. She held her throat, which was undoubtedly strained from all the choking.
"Are you okay?" Rob asked.
Tahira nodded. "What happened?" she croaked.
"This young lady here saved your life," the doctor said, gesturing up at Kaitlynn. "She found an EpiPen just in time."
With Zuri and Rob's help, Tahira struggled to her feet. Then she threw
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herself at Kaidynn, clinging to her with her arms around her neck.
"Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you," she croaked.
Everyone in the immediate vicinity started to applaud, and soon the whole room and its hundreds of revelers were cheering and clapping for Kaitlynn's achievement.
"Get that girl a drink!" someone shouted, earning laughter from the crowd.
"It was nothing," Kaitlynn replied modestly. "I have allergies too, so I always have one on me," she said, glancing meaningfully over at Ariana. "Anyone would have done the same."
Ariana finally breathed in. Interesting. So she hadn't done it so that she could tell everyone that Ariana had stolen Tahira's EpiPen.
"Come on," Rob said, putting his arm around Tahira's waist. "I think we should get you checked out."
"He's right. I'd like to gauge your blood pressure and make sure you're all right," the doctor said. "There's an emergency kit at the front."
Tahira had one arm around Rob's shoulders and the other around the doctor's as they passed by Ariana on their way to the door. Zuri scurried after them, holding both her purse and Tahira's. And Kaitlynn, who was trailed by a smattering of applause, brought up the rear. As she walked by Ariana, she lifted Ariana's wrist and slapped something into her hand. Then she smirked, and followed her friends.
Slowly, her fingers quaking, Ariana unfolded the scrap of black paper--Kaitlynn's task. It read, in silver lettering:
BE THE HERO.
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NEXT
Ariana Osgood was at a loss. Her plan had failed, foiled by the very person for whom she had created said plan in the first place. Now, all she could think about was what Kaitlynn had said at the top of the stairs during their tour of the embassy.What happens next is on you.
What was going to happen next? As of this moment, Ariana had no idea. And that thought terrified her more than anything.
She stood near the wall of the ballroom, watching Kaitlynn as she chatted and laughed with Tahira, Zuri, and Allison, who were now solidified for life as her bestest best friends.
Be the hero, Ariana thought. What would Kaitlynn have done if Ariana hadn't tried to take out Tahira? If Ariana had tossed the EpiPen? Probably put Ariana in some kind of mortal danger and then saved her at the last minute. Or someone else. They were all just pawns in the girl's sadistic game.
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Kaitlynn laughed at something Tahira said, and Ariana's eyes narrowed. The real question was, what was the girl thinking? How was she going to create a spot for herself in Stone and Grave? What sort of plan was percolating in that distorted little mind of hers?