down. Now that I had only one suspect left, I felt somehow more secure. Like I could take a day
off. Take a day off and try to salvage my academic future.It looked like Ivy had decided to dedicate
herself to work for the day as well. She had been hunkered down at a table on the other side of
the huge bookcase to my right ever since I had arrived. Every half hour or so, I got up to stretch or
go to the bathroom just to make sure she was still there. As long as she was studying, she wasn't
out somewhere plotting against Noelle, or me, or anyone else. She switched study partners
throughout the afternoon, allotting Josh a two-hour stint, which was so fun for me, but she almost
never left her own chair. Easy girl to stake out.
Finally, it was about two hours after dinner, and I had definitely hit my limit. I had read the same
sentence in my history text at least ten
128
times and none of the info had sunk in. It was time to pack it in. But I felt good about my day. I had
accomplished a lot. It was quite possible that I could now avoid flunking my finals. A bonus,
considering the last thing I needed was to lose my scholarship.
Gathering my things, I stood up and smiled at the other loners who dotted the seats around the
table, all hunkered down with their iPods. Not one of them smiled back. Even among the school
losers I was persona non grata. But I just let it roll off my back. This had been a good day. I wasn't
going to let anyone get to me. After one last check on Ivy's position--still taking notes from her
English anthology--I headed for the door.
Outside, I pulled my white wool hat down over my forehead and started carefully along the stone
path around the quad. Last night the rain had turned to snow, leaving about three inches of
pristine white blanket over the grass. The paths, however, had iced over, and even after a daylong
battle by the grounds crews, there were still patches of the slick stuff here and there, just waiting
to trip up an unsuspecting student. I kept my eyes trained for any speck of black ice.
It wasn't until I was about ten yards away that I realized I had walked to Billings instead of
Pemberly.
I stopped in my tracks, looking up at the tall building that used to be my home, and tears of
embarrassment flooded my eyes. How pathetic was I? Pemberly was in the complete opposite
direction. Damn my subconscious. Clearly it had a sick sense of humor.
I was about to turn on my heel and rush off before anyone could spot me, when I realized there