“I’m an all-sweets lover,” Ariana replied, flicking a crumb from her lip with the very tip of her tongue. “No discrimination.”
Jasper grinned. “A glutton. I like it.”
Ariana blushed and took another bite of the tart. The water lapped gently along the walls of the boathouse and the wind whipped against the windowpanes, but she felt cozy, warm, and content inside the colorful, glowing room with Jasper. As much as she would have relished an elaborate, jam-packed party, this was pretty perfect.
“So, Briana Leigh Covington, you’ve just been named President of Stone and Grave. What are you going to do now?” Jasper asked in a reporter’s voice.
“I don’t know. I think I’ll research the local bylaws … see if there’s anything that needs a second look,” Ariana said, wiping some crumbs from her fingers with a napkin. “I’m definitely interested in learning about how new members are chosen to be tapped. I think that’s an area that needs improvement.”
Especially if they were willing to let people like Lillian Oswald in—a girl who didn’t even have a past.
Jasper laughed, a big, booming sound, and Ariana paused.
“What?”
“You’re supposed to say ‘I’m going to Disney World,’” he told her.
Ariana’s eyes narrowed. “What? Why would I say that?”
Jasper laughed so hard now, he doubled over. “Because … you know … at the Super Bowl? They always ask the MVP … what are you going to do now? And he always says—”
“I’m going to Disney World?” Ariana interjected, baffled. “But why? Why would they all want to do the same thing?”
Jasper shook his head. “Forget it.”
“I mean, Disney World is a garish, filthy playground for the unwashed masses of the universe. Why would someone as wealthy and successful as a Super Bowl winner want to—”
“Forget it,” Jasper said with an exaggerated sigh. “Clearly you’re not a pop culture maven.”
Ariana tried to shove aside her embarrassment over being laughed at. She’d never before been ashamed of the fact that she didn’t get every reality show reference or commercial quote bandied about by her friends. She had always felt superior, in fact, in the not-knowing. She had more important things to do with her time than waste hours pouring over OK! magazine and watching MTV.
“No. Clearly not,” she replied.
Jasper picked up a chocolate-covered cherry from a bowl and popped it into his mouth. “The Princeton admissions committee is going to love you.”
Ariana’s heart skipped a quick beat. Princeton. Attending the Ivy League school had been Ariana’s dream since the dawn of time, and now that she’d been officially elected Stone and Grave president, she was one step closer to getting in.
“Where are you going to apply?” Ariana asked, reaching for a chocolate cupcake.
“I hear Cornell and Brown are the easiest of the Ivies, so I’m starting there,” he said with a smirk.
Ariana smiled. When she and Jasper had first started to get to know each other, he’d professed his aspiration to a life of leisure. But a guy like him was expected to go to an Ivy League school. Apparently this was his way of finding a happy medium.
“But I’m also going to apply to Tulane and LSU,” Jasper added. “Mama would be happy if I ended up close to home.”
“So Princeton’s off the list, then?” Ariana asked, trying to sound casual. She and Jasper were juniors, after all. Anything could happen between now and their freshman year of college. Still, if she had to choose right now, she’d want him to come with her.
“It was,” he said casually, reaching for another cherry. He popped it in his mouth and slowly smiled, a smile that made her want to curl right up in his arms. “Until you came along.”
HONOR HER MEMORY
“None of us could have imagined the level of tragedy that has befallen this campus in the last two months,” Headmaster Jansen said, her voice ringing out through the otherwise silent chapel on Thursday morning. She wore a black pencil skirt with a matching jacket and a gray silk blouse, and for the first time since Ariana had arrived at Atherton-Pryce Hall, her dark skin was free of makeup. Her delicate hands shook as she rested them on either side of the podium and looked out at the crowd. The school had postponed Lexa’s memorial service until after the holiday, and now the students and faculty seated in the pews were as still as stone, their eyes shiny with unshed tears. “Lexa Greene was one of our shining stars. She had an incredible future ahead of her. One can only wonder what could have happened to make her feel so desperate, to make her feel that there was no other way out.”
Ariana gripped her arm and squeezed. You’re going to make it right, she reminded herself. You’re going to make it right.
“We may never know the answer to that question. But there is one thing of which I am certain,” the headmaster said, pacing out from behind her podium. “Lexa would want us to continue on. She would want all of you to honor her memory by doing your best, fulfilling your dreams, and living your lives to the fullest. That’s just who she was.”
Shakily, Maria reached over for Ariana’s hand. Ariana released her grip on her own arm so that she could grip her friend’s fingers. Maria pressed her lips into a semblance of a grim smile, her eyes so wet they swam. For the tenth time that day, Ariana wondered where Soomie was and whether Palmer and Conrad were here somewhere. Had they returned to campus, or were they off somewhere, grieving their loss in private?