Playing with Fire (4 page)

Walk
, Alison told herself.
Take a step
. She forced herself to put one foot in front of the other slowly in spite of a burning desire to run as fast as she could. She could hear Kelly's shrill laughter echoing off the cement walls. She could feel everyone's eyes on her back. She raised her head and squared her shoulders. If her mother had taught her anything, it was how to put up a facade. Nobody had to know she was broken inside.

Turning a corner, Alison stumbled up the stairs to the second floor. She wanted to dissolve into a puddle of tears right then and there. But she had to make it to some kind of haven,
someplace at least a little bit safe, before breaking down. Alison blinked and realized that her vision was blurring. A couple of students stared as she walked past. Just some chattering freshmen, thank goodness. Up ahead she could see the girls' bathroom. Not perfect, but good enough.

Alison pushed open the door, holding her breath. The restroom was empty. Rushing into a stall, she locked the door. Before she could even slump down on the toilet, a loud sob escaped her throat and the tears started pouring.

Wrapping her arms around herself, Alison rocked back and forth.
Breathe,
she told herself. If she could just keep breathing she might survive this nightmare.

“Ugh,” Alison moaned between sobs. How could Kelly do this to her?
Why
was Kelly doing this to her? What had Alison ever done to Kelly? Alison's despair turned quickly to rage. She wanted to scream. She wanted to break Chad's kneecaps. She wanted to poke Kelly's eyes out. She wanted to…

Just then the door to the bathroom banged open. Alison quickly lifted her feet off the
ground and hugged her knees, balancing on the toilet seat. She peered through the crack in the stall but couldn't tell who was on the other side. The girl turned on the tap and splashed some water on her face.

Good idea
, Alison thought grimly. She silently pulled out her compact mirror and checked her reflection. She looked pretty bad. Terrible, actually. But thanks to years of living with Helen Rose, she had ways to deal with that—if she ever made it out of the stall. A splash of ice-cold water would be a good first step.

Alison waited while the girl dried her hands and face, checked her hair and makeup in the mirror, and untucked her shirt.
Come on, come on
, she thought. If she was going to make herself look decent before class she had to get going.

Finally Alison heard the door open. The girl was leaving. When the door closed again she stood up, pulled back the latch, and stepped out of the stall…

Right in front of Zoey Ramirez. Zoey Ramirez, her old best friend. A shocker, but not a bad one. Alison hadn't seen Zoey since fifth grade. But
right at this moment she was in desperate need of a best friend.

“Zoey!” Alison said, smiling widely. “Wow!” The light in the bathroom was kind of sketchy—maybe Zoey wouldn't notice that she looked—

“Alison?” Zoey peered at her old friend. “You look horrendous.”

That was Zoey. She always called it like she saw it. There was no use lying to her, but that didn't mean Alison had to tell her the whole truth, either. “It's been a rough morning,” she admitted. “But I'm all right now.”

Zoey raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I heard about your mom,” she said. “And I saw the scene with Kelly and Chad.”

Alison stepped up to the mirror. Time to get busy. “Kelly and Chad deserve each other,” she said as she turned on the faucet full blast. “I can't believe you're back here! How was boarding school?” She splashed her face, then looked up at Zoey's reflection in the mirror. “Tell me. I want to hear everything!”

Kelly led Chad to her table by the window in the lunchroom and set her tray down with a little swing of her hair. Smiling sideways at her new and totally hot boyfriend, she slid into her seat. It had only been two days since the scene with Alison in the hall, but everyone knew she had bested the girl. Kelly was loving the attention she and Chad were getting. It even gave her kind of an appetite. But she had opted for the usual—a salad and a bottle of Evian.

“Oooh, I forgot a napkin.” Kelly batted her eyelashes at Chad. “Could you go get me one?”

Chad was about to stand up when his best
friend, Tom, plunked his tray down across from them. “Here, you can have mine,” he offered.

Chad turned and smirked at Tom across the table. “Did you catch the game last night?” he asked.

Tom groaned. “Don't remind me. It was brutal. We should have just forfeited at the half.”

Chad snorted unattractively, and Kelly shuddered. Sometimes guys were such…
guys
. Not to mention dense. What was more important, her needing to wipe her chin or a stupid football game?

“Chad,” Kelly said, sounding exactly like Her Highness, “that's such an ugly sound.”

“Sorry,” Chad grumbled as he scooped up a forkful of mac and cheese.

Bored with the boys, Kelly turned her attention to the rest of the lunchroom. It was a large, airy hall filled with round tables of different sizes, each with its own hanging lamp and live plant to keep it from looking too institutional. The kitchen and large selection of foods—everything from vegan entrees to a sundae bar—was set up along the wall across from the floor-to-ceiling
windows behind Kelly. The crowd was segregated into the usual tables of geeks and freaks and brains and jocks. And then there was the table in the corner to which Alison had been exiled.

Since Kelly had humiliated her in the hall on Monday, nobody had been spending much time with—or even talking to—Alison Rose. They were all talking
about
her, though—gossiping about her mother's indictment and speculating on how long Chad and Kelly had been seeing each other behind Alison's back. Kelly felt a little shiver of victorious excitement. She'd known that bringing her cousin down would be easy, but she hadn't realized it would be quite so much fun.

There was only one little fly in her otherwise perfect ointment: Zoey Ramirez. Kelly glared at the girl as she took a seat by Alison. She had heard that Tom's twin was returning to Stafford after a four-year stint at five different boarding schools, and she'd seen for herself what a weirdo Zoey had become. But she'd had no idea that Zoey and Alison would pick up where
they'd left off before Kelly'd had to break up their little friendship. How pathetic.

Watching Alison and Zoey with their heads together over their lunch trays, Kelly felt a stab of annoyance. Alison looked…fine. She was actually smiling! Had she completely forgotten that her life was
ruined
?

Kelly jabbed a cherry tomato with her fork. For a moment, she was tempted to go over and congratulate Alison on her acting. It had to be acting, didn't it? Alison couldn't possibly have shaken off being humiliated in front of the whole school, and losing her guy
and
Kelly's friendship so easily. Not to mention the fact that her mother was a criminal. Alison just didn't have it in her.

Kelly shoved the tomato into her mouth and exploded it to bits between her molars. Time to take things up a notch—a big notch. She looked across the table at Zoey's twin, who was obliviously munching on a carrot. Kelly had always liked Tom well enough—he was cute and funny and had never gotten in her way. And now he might even come in handy.

Kelly took a sip of spring water and leaned across the table toward Tom. She smiled up at him. “Zoey seems to be doing great,” she said sweetly. “I'm sure she's thrilled to be back.”

Tom coughed on his carrot stick. “Not exactly,” he admitted.

Kelly leaned in closer and put her hand on his forearm. “Really?” she asked innocently.

Tom nodded and his cheeks reddened slightly. Kelly had him under her spell. “Yeah, she had no choice. She's been kicked out of five schools in a row. And after what she did at her last school, Dad really had to pull some strings to get her into Stafford.”

Bingo. “Oh, I'm sure she didn't do anything too terrible,” Kelly cooed. “Boarding schools can be so uptight.”

“I have no idea what she did,” Tom admitted. “But whatever it was got her kicked out hard and fast. If she pulls any stunts here…” He trailed off, a concerned look crossing his broad, tanned face. Kelly knew what he was thinking. He was hoping that Zoey would not drag him down now that they were in the same school.

Kicked out
…the words danced around in Kelly's head like blinking lights on a Christmas tree. She turned to look back at Zoey and Alison, and smirked. This was just too good. Twirling a lock of hair between her fingers, she contemplated how she was going to use this new ammunition. She was lost in thought when Alison picked up her tray and got to her feet.

Kelly was on her own Miu Miu-clad feet in a second. “Be right back,” she said, flashing a smile and giving Chad's shoulder a squeeze. As she stepped away from the table, she had no idea what she was going to say to Alison, but she knew it would come to her. When you were as good as she was, you didn't have to think things all the way through. Timing her walk just so, she met her cousin at the tray drop.

“Hi, Alison!” she said, as if they were still the best of friends. “How is everything?”

Alison's eyes flashed as she set her tray on the stainless-steel counter, saying nothing. Then she smiled brightly and turned to face her former friend. “Everything is fine, Kelly,” she said. “It's amazing how much better life gets when you get rid of the parasites.”

Kelly felt her jaw tighten but smiled sweetly. “Really, Alison,” she chided. “You shouldn't talk about your mother that way. The poor woman is in prison!”

“I wasn't referring to my mother,” Alison said evenly.

Kelly acted as though she hadn't heard her. “Speaking of Auntie Helen, I wanted to tell you I think it's just horrible who's responsible for her situation. I was shocked when I found out who turned her in. You must be furious.”

Finally Alison flinched. “What are you talking about?” she asked quietly.

Kelly savored the moment—and the expression on Alison's face. “Oh, you don't know?” Kelly asked with a dazzling smile. She waited exactly five more seconds, then leaned forward conspiratorially and spoke just three more words: “Her Royal Highness.”

Chad closed his locker with a slam and spun around. Life was good. Aside from the nagging guilt he had about ditching Alison, he was flying high. Kelly Reeves was most definitely the hottest and richest girl at school—a fine catch for anybody, but especially Chad, who needed to stay on top. It wasn't easy to keep his background and free ride under wraps, but with Kelly as his girl-friend, nobody would question him. Of course, the same could be said of dating Alison. But Alison wasn't as powerful as Kelly. Kelly really knew how to work the system. Any system.

Chad looked around the crowded hallway for Kelly but didn't see her. She seemed to come and
go like the tide. That was okay with him. He liked his freedom, or what was left of it. Slinging his pack over his shoulder, Chad headed off to class. Mr. Beekler hated it when his students were late.

The only problem with Kelly was how he was going to afford her. Kelly was always buying stuff, always eating out. She would probably expect Chad to start coming along and laying down cash. Alison wasn't so much of a spender, he realized. That was one good thing about her.

Actually, there were lots of good things about Alison. She was smart, beautiful, funny, sweet…He still couldn't believe that she'd burned him. He'd had no idea that she was planning to dump him. He hadn't even believed it when Kelly first told him. But Kelly insisted it was true, and then Alison didn't call him when her mom got arrested…or take his call the next day. And she acted so weird at the party—what was up with that? Chad had been waiting to comfort her, but she'd barely said hello to him before taking off. He'd felt totally stupid.

Chad shook his head as he rounded a corner. He had to get over it. He was with Kelly. And whether he still cared about her or not, Alison
was like poison now. She'd been exiled. Best to stop thinking about her completely.

Checking the clock on his cell phone, Chad looked up just in time to stop himself from walking right into the very person he'd just vowed to avoid—Alison. His shoes squeaked to a halt on the tile floor.

“Hey,” he said, trying to sound casual. Inside he was freaking. This was so awkward. He hoped nobody would see them together.

“Hey,” Alison said, looking up at him with her big blue eyes. She looked like she'd been crying, or trying really hard not to. And her voice was soft, vulnerable. He'd never heard her like that before.

Chad's heart thudded in his chest. He had to stop himself from putting his arms around her. For some reason, hugging her seemed like the thing to do. The thing he
wanted
to do. Only he couldn't, of course. He shouldn't even be talking to her. But he couldn't just stand there…

Chad looked around. They were basically alone. “Listen, I'm really sorry about—”

“There you are, Chad,” Kelly said smoothly as she glided up to them out of nowhere. Chad
immediately stiffened and took a step back from Alison. He didn't want to make Kelly mad. A ticked-off Kelly was a scary thing. But if she was upset she didn't show it.

“I see you're doing your charity work again,” she drawled. “But I'm afraid this cause is hopeless.” Without even looking at Alison, she took Chad by the arm and led him away. “Meet me out front after class,” she ordered. “My aunt Christine is taking me shopping—we'll give you a ride home.”

In a split second the knot of feelings he'd been having over Alison was forgotten. Chad smiled. Kelly's aunt Christine was gorgeous and famous, and everybody knew it. Kelly was offering more than a ride. She was offering a chance to look good in front of everyone at Stafford.

“Sweet,” Chad agreed as Kelly gave his hand a little squeeze. He knew Alison was still standing in the hall, but he didn't give his ex-girlfriend a second glance.