Kiran's head bobbed as she laughed once, derisively. “Sweetie, Scarlett Johansson couldn't get into this thing unless Whittaker brought her.” She drained the rest of her cup and sucked her cheeks together slightly as she swallowed. The look she gave me was all meaning. Like, You want to go to this party. Don't fuck it up.
Noelle stood up and then bent at the waist so that her eyes were mere inches from mine. I tried to avert my gaze so I didn't have to stare straight into her eyes, but when I did I saw directly down her
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silk night shirt and almost melted from embarrassment. Eye contact it was.
“Reed, when are you going to figure out that we do everything for a reason?” she said, placing her hand on my shoulder. “We set you up with Whittaker so that you could go to the Legacy. We don't want to go without you.”
Suddenly I felt all warm inside.
“We will, but we don't want to,” Kiran added with a giggle.
Noelle stood straight again, then she moved over to the window. Staring out across the quad, she took a long drink from her glass and then looked at me.
“So, what's it gonna be?”
Noelle wanted me there. Thomas was going to be there. And at this point, I was also salivating to see what all this hype was about. And a party that even Kiran couldn't get into just by flashing a little leg had to be intense. Seriously.
I took a deep breath and turned to Kiran. “Can I borrow some clothes for Friday night? I have a date. With Whittaker.”
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MY KNIGHT
Mrs. Lattimer walked me across the quad and over to the circle on Friday night, her heels clicking quickly even though we were moving at a snail's pace. Apparently while on campus I needed a chaperone, but they were going to let me go off campus with Whittaker alone. Maybe Mrs. Lattimer was supposed to make sure that I wasn't, in fact, boarding some party bus to Montreal. To make sure I didn't leave campus unless I did it with Whit.
The good news was I looked amazing in the outfit Kiran had lent me. Yes, even I was able to admit it. It was a sophisticated Calvin Klein black halter-?style dress that hit just above the knee, with slim straps encircling my neck and accentuating my shoulders--which had been dusted with bronzer for a “sexy glow.” It was topped by a gold brocade jacket--vintage Chanel--and the diamond earrings Whittaker had bought me. Kiran had insisted I wear my hair up, and when I'd revealed I knew how to do nothing other than a ponytail and a basic braid, she had grumbled but worked on me for an hour, gathering my brown locks up into a
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sophisticated loose-?and-?sexy bun. One pair of strappy, black Manolo Blahniks and the look was complete. The result? I was runway-?worthy.
Too bad I felt more like I was walking down a plank.
“This is a very special privilege you've been granted tonight, Miss Brennan. I hope you realize that,” Mrs. Lattimer said as we walked around Bradwell, which fronted the circle. She held the collar of her coat up to her chin to combat the chill. “Mrs. Whittaker doesn't do favors like this for just anyone.”
I glanced at Mrs. Lattimer out of the corner of my eye. After what I had read about her on Ariana and Noelle's IM, I had a problem taking her seriously on any level. This woman had been bought off with a shopping spree. Bought off so that a bunch of overprivileged girls could get an innocent person thrown out of school. And I was supposed to, what? Look up to her?
“I know,” I said flatly.
“I may have underestimated you when we first met,” she said.
Fab. Now I could die happy.
“Uh, thanks. I guess.”
“Walter must have some very strong feelings for you,” she said, eyeing me shrewdly. Expectantly. Like I was going to share all the details of my sordid romance with her.
“I suppose,” I said.
She narrowed her eyes at my blithe attitude and I had the distinct feeling that I had offended her. I gues
s meriting attention from the great Whittaker family was something I should have
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taken more seriously. I should have been flattered. All I wanted was to get this over with.