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Then they kissed. Slowly, tenderly, comfortingly. When they pulled away, Natasha touched her forehead to Leanne's and they both breathed.
This was not just a couple. This was a couple in love.
And as I realized this, I completely forgave Natasha. She had done it all for love, just as I had kept Thomas's note a secret, just as I had kept alive the hope that I would see him her
e tonight. Plus she had done it under threat from Noelle, and if there was one thing all three of us knew, it was that Noelle made good on her threats. Natasha, like me, had been given no choice.
I took a deep breath and tried to lock on to one coherent thought, tried to figure out what I had to do next, what I might need to know in order to do what I had to do next. There was one obvious question to be asked.
“Why would they do this?” I asked, gripping the soft cushion at my sides. “Why would they blackmail you to get me to sneak around their rooms? They had to know I would be screwed if I got kicked out. They had to know I would do it. I mean, you should have seen some of the embarrassing crap I found. Weren't they worried about that at all?”
“Maybe you should ask them,” Leanne said flatly.
“She's right. You'll have an easier time believing it if it comes directly from them,” Natasha said.
I nodded, still semicatatonic from the shock. Hear it from them. Right. They did have a lot of explaining to do.
“Would you mind leaving us alone now?” Leanne asked,
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holding Natasha's hand in her lap. “We don't get to see each other much anymore.”
She said this with a hint of blame. As if it was my fault. But I suppose, in a way, it was.
'Yeah. Sorry,“ I said, rising shakily on my three-?and-?a-?half- inch heels. I paused in front of the curtain and looked over my shoulder at Natasha. ”And don't worry. Your secret's safe."
Natasha smiled. The first genuine smile she had ever graced me with. “Thanks, Reed.”
I lifted the curtain and ducked out.
233
THE PAWN
Why? Why would they do this? Why, why, why?
I paused for a moment outside the alcove to catch my breath, the boning in the bodice of my gown cutting into my raw, hot skin. My brain searched for an answer, but could find none. What would the Billings Girls possibly have to gain from making me snoop through their rooms? Had they wanted me to find all their sick, secret stashes? Had they wanted me to find the proof of what they had done to Leanne? And if so, I was back to question one:
Why?
It was all just some big, twisted game. It had to be. And Natasha and Leanne and I were the pawns. Playing with us amused them. Seeing how far we might go gave them a happy little thrill. It was the only explanation. Earlier that day when I had gone in and confessed and handed back the disk, they had known what I had done. They had known all along. They had engineered the whole thing.
They must have been laughing at me behind my back for days. Look what Reed's doing. Look how stupid she is. Look how much power we have over her.
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The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to tear someone's hair out.
I stood up straight, took a deep breath, and homed in on the dance floor. This was not going to be pretty.
Clinging to my livid adrenaline rush, I stormed through the crowd, taking an elbow here, a hip knock there, and found Noelle, Ariana, Taylor, and Kiran just where I had left them, in the center of the dance floor. I stepped in front of Noelle, seething for breath. She stopped dancing.
“We need to talk,” I said.
“Reed, relax,” she drawled, resting her wrists on my shoulders. “It's a party! That's what you're supposed to do. Or don't they have parties in Bumble-?fuck, Pennsylvania?”