Private 06 - Legacy (15 page)

"Okay. Want me to pay for yours?" Noelle asked as she returned the dress she was buying to its hanger. Unlike the rejects on the floor. For some reason her offer made my blood boil.

"No. Billings has an account here," I said, holding out my hand for her gown. "I'll just put them on that." Noelle stared at me for a long moment. A moment in which I had no idea, and in fact feared, what she might be thinking. But then, she slowly smiled. "Now you're getting the hang of it," she said, handing the dress over. She turned back to the mirror as I turned to go. "Don't forget to tell them we need a rush on the alterations." "Got it," I grumbled as I shoved my way through the door.\ You know everything. You have everything. I got it. Believe me. I do.

"I have the best news!" I cried as I barreled into my room that evening.

I had decided to focus on the positives. And one major positive was having some news that should actually break Sabine out of the weird funk she'd been in lately. Sure, she had seemed anti-Legacy before, but I knew she'd change her mind now that she'd get to go too.

She was sitting on her bed with a needle and thread and some kind of fabric stuck into a ring, which she dropped the moment I entered. "What? What is it?" she asked, sitting up straight. "What's that?" I asked, pointing. Momentary distraction. It's not every day you see a sixteen-year-old girl doing needlepoint. "Just something I'm making for my sister." She tucked it away under her pillow as if embarrassed. But then she lifted her chin in a defiant way. "I do embroidery. It's calming."

"Oh. Okay," I said. I placed my Chloe bag on my bed. Sabine really was different from anyone else at Easton. I could only imagine what Portia and the Twin Cities and Noelle would say about such an old-fashioned and completely unglam hobby. But maybe there was something to this calming idea. Sabine always seemed pretty chill to me. "So? What's your news?" she asked. Right. My news! I turned to her, practically bubbling over. "We all are going to the Legacy!" I announced. Sabine's face fell. "Oh." Not exactly the enthusiastic response I had been looking for. "You don't understand! This is beyond incredible!" I cried. "Now we don't have to sit here alone while everyone else traipses off to the biggest party of the year! Noelle got rings for all the Billings Girls, so we're all going to crash. It's going to be an insane night. Just wait." "Rings? What rings?" Sabine asked, sliding to the end of her bed. "You need these rings to get in. There's always some piece of jewelry you get that proves you were invited. Last year it was a necklace," I told her. "Anyway, Noelle will be getting them any day, and then all we have to do is get the e-mail with the location and we're in."

"Noelle will be getting them," Sabine said pointedly. She dropped her clasped hands between her knees as she looked up at me. "Yeah. She ordered them," I told her. "Why?"

"There's a surprise," she said. She shoved herself up and went over to her desk, where she started shifting through her books, her back to me. Okay. Now I was getting seriously annoyed. Not only was she not excited about the Legacy--a party everyone else at Easton would give their left ear to go to--but she was giving me crap about Noelle. Again. "What is your problem with Noelle?" I asked. "Nothing," she said. My fingers clenched. "No. I want to know." Sabine sighed and her shoulders slumped. "Well, first of all, she's been mean to me since the day she got here." "You haven't been all that nice to her, either," I replied. It was lame, I know. Like Noelle really cared how Sabine treated her. But it was true.

"And second of all, she clearly wants the presidency," Sabine added, as if I hadn't spoken. "What? She does not!" I said with a scoff. "Reed!" Sabine was wide-eyed, like she couldn't believe I was so blind. "If she doesn't want to be in charge, why has she let you do nothing on your own since she got here? I don't think she ever liked the masquerade idea. She steered everyone toward the Legacy. Now she's getting all of us into this party, making it impossible for us to hold a Halloween ball of our own, and she's the one getting these rings. So all of Easton--and Billings--is going to give her credit for getting them in. She's undermining you at every turn."

I stared at Sabine, stung. It was amazing how she had just twisted everything to make it look how she wanted it to look. But she hadn't been there. She hadn't seen how I'd almost ruined everything at the jeweler and how Noelle had swooped in to save the day. It wasn't premeditated. We'd done it all together, off the cuff. Sabine didn't like Noelle, so she was turning everything the girl did into some kind of plot. And, okay, maybe Noelle had schemed in the past, but things were different now."You're wrong about her," I said firmly. "By paying for all those tokens for us, she was doing something unselfish. She was looking out for the rest of us. She didn't do it for herself." Sabine looked sad as she sighed again. "If you say so." Then she sat down at her desk and tucked in, turning her back on me for good this time. Frustrated, I crossed my arms over my chest and turned to stare out the window at the darkening blue sky as the lights flicked on all over the Easton grounds. Sabine was wrong. Noelle and I were friends. I felt like her equal more than ever before. Except in those moments when I was reminded of how new I was to all of this--but still. Noelle and I had done the day's work together. I was sure we would take credit for it together.

* * *

"We're going to the Legacy? All of us?" Constance cried. "Oh my God, Reed! You're my hero!" Now this was the kind of reaction I was looking for. Constance squealed and practically knocked over the cafe table between us as she attempted to hug me. Her thick hair got caught on my tongue and I pulled it away quickly, trying hard not to gag and offend her. The Drake House boys at the next table shielded their PSPs just in case any coffee went flying. "Shh!" I admonished nonetheless, glancing around the packed solarium. At every table students whispered, studied, or sneaked kisses over coffee and scones.

"We don't want everyone to hear and start thinking they can get in."

"Oh. Right!" Constance whispered. "Here you go, Constance! They just came out with a fresh batch of chocolate croissants." A freshman girl whom I recognized as one of Amberly's sidekicks deposited a plastic plate on our table. Constance looked up at her, nonplussed.

"Uh, thanks... Lara, right?" she said. "From the Chronicle?"

"Right!" The girl beamed over the fact that Constance knew her name. "It was no problem; I heard you on line before saying you wished they had them, so when I saw them bring out the tray, I figured I'd get you one," she said, lifting her shoulders. "I'll see you at the editorial meeting tomorrow!" Lara scurried off and Constance laughed incredulously.

"What was that?" I smirked. "That was Billings clout at work." Her entire face lit up. "Really? How cool! My first random perk!" She took a big bite of the croissant and smiled. I grinned in response, happy that she was getting the full Billings experience. At the beginning of the year it had seemed as if that might never happen for her. "Anyway, Whit is going to die when he hears about the Legacy," she whispered. "And Astrid and Lorna and Sabine! They're gonna be so psyched!"

I leaned back and took a sip of my coffee. "Actually, Sabine... not so much," I said bitterly. "What? Why?" Constance asked, wide-eyed. Then her expression grew allknowing.

"Is it because she's foreign?" I laughed, almost forcing the coffee out through my nose. Once again the Drake boys looked alarmed. As soon as the coughing fit subsided I was able to ask, "What's that supposed to mean?" "Oh, just that she's not from here so she doesn't, like, know what the Legacy is all about," Constance replied. "Ah." That actually made sense. But still, I was sure that wasn't the case. At least, not the whole case. "No. I don't know. She acted all annoyed that Noelle and I are working together on this." "Oh," Constance said, nodding. "Yeah. That makes sense."

"What makes sense?" I asked. "Just... well... don't take this the wrong way, but you have been spending kind of a lot of time with Noelle since she's been back." "So?"I asked. Constance lifted one shoulder and avoided eye contact as she shook another packet of sugar--her fifth--into her latte. "Just... maybe she's a little jealous." She glanced up at me as she stirred her coffee, then quickly looked away and took a sip. "Oh." Right. How had that not occurred to me? Sabine and I had been growing really close before Noelle returned. Constance was right. Jealousy made sense. But was she speaking for herself as well? By the pinkness of her cheeks and the sudden darting of her eyes, I had a feeling she was. And maybe Josh, too God. Was there anyone I hadn't been willing to ditch for Noelle lately? I thought of Josh, staring out at the cold Atlantic on a beach in Maine as his family reveled around a roaring bonfire in the background. Suddenly I wanted to be with him more than anything. When he got back, I had some kissing up to do. Big-time.

"Constance, I'm sorry," I said. "For what?" she asked loudly.

"I've been--" I wanted to say neglecting you, but it sounded too egotistical. "Really busy lately," I finished. "But don't worry, I'm going to remedy that." Constance grinned so brightly I was temporarily blinded. "Well, at least we'll all get to hang out together at the Legacy!" That was my bright-side girl.

"Yeah. We will," I said proudly. "And Whit! And Josh! Omigod. This is going to be sick!" And Whit. And Josh. And Dash. Oh, my. I was about to take another sip of my coffee, but pushed it away instead. The boy I'd used, the boy I was dating, and the boy I was flirting with behind everyone's back. Suddenly, all of us hanging out together started to feel a tad complicated. In fact, "sick" didn't even begin to cover it.

* * *

Sunday dawned crisp, clear, and cool--a perfect day for hanging out on the quad, admiring the changing leaves, and showing off new fall wardrobes. Led by our intrepid social chairs, the Billings Girls found a spot in the dead center of the action and staked our claim with cashmere Burberry throws. We settled in with all the books we weren't going to study and got right down to the real business of the hour: people-watching and gossiping.

"Can you believe Gage and Ivy are hooking up again? " Vienna said, unscrewing the top of a big silver thermos. She'd had several filled for us at Coffee Carma. "Isn't that sort of been-there-done-that? Get yourself some fresh meat already."

"Gage and Ivy?" Sabine gasped. "How can you miss it?" Portia sneered, glancing across the quad. "They are all about the PDA." We all turned to look. Sure enough, Gage was practically crawling on top of Ivy on the steps of Hell Hall. Tongues flashed. Her fingers gripped his sweater. His hands trailed under her skirt. I had to give them points for sheer idiocy. Didn't they know that any of dozens of teachers or administrators could trip over them at any moment? "That's disgusting," Tiffany said, focusing her zoom lens on them nonetheless. "Why her?" Sabine asked, clearly upset. "Because she's got no standards," Noelle sniffed as she accepted a cup of coffee from Vienna. "Don't let them bother you, Sabine," I said under my breath, squeezing her hand. Ever since my conversation with Constance the night before, I had been the perfectly attentive best friend. "I told you, you can do so much better."

Sabine smiled slightly, and turned her body so she'd have no chance of glimpsing the low-grade porn without sprouting a third eye. Good girl. "Speaking of standards," Portia said, lifting her heavy hair over her shoulder. She was wearing an emerald green turtleneck sweater that, in the sunlight, brought out her eyes and made her dark hair pop.

For the first time I could see why green was her signature color. "Is it true we're all going to the Legacy?" "It's true," Noelle said, sipping her coffee. "That's so incredible, you guys," Rose said, beaming. She smoothed her brown suede skirt under her legs as she adjusted her position on the blanket. "I've always hated the fact that we couldn't all go together."

"Well, now we can. If, of course, we can find out where it's being held," I reminded them.

"Which reminds me, I have to make a call. Be right back." I pushed myself up and walked a few paces over to a stone bench nearby. I had saved all of Jenna Korman's numbers in my iPhone, just in case, and wanted to put the last cog of our plan in motion sooner rather than later. I hit her cell phone number and sat on the cold bench while it rang. "Reed Brennan! To what do I owe the pleasure?" her gravelly voice asked. "Hi, Ms.... Jenna," I said. "Sorry to interrupt your Sunday." "Not at all. Just golfing with my husband," she said brightly, then lowered her voice. "Boring as sin. Man couldn't beat me if Tiger was his caddy. So what can I do for you? You got the invitation, I understand?" "Yes, thank you so much," I replied. "And we have almost everything we need." A group of girls walk-ing past my friends paused when they saw how close they had come to brushing by Noelle, then gave her a wider berth. I rolled my eyes. What did they think she was going to do? Bite their ankles?

"Good. Good to hear," she replied. "Walter! Bend your knees! You never bend your knees properly," she shouted off the phone. "Sorry about that," she told me. "You were saying?"

I stifled a laugh as the wind tossed my hair back from my face. "Well, all we need now is to get a copy of the last e-mail--the one that will reveal the time and place of the party. None of us are on the list, obviously." "Not a problem. I'll have my daughter forward it right to you when she gets it," she replied. I bit my lip. "Well, that's the thing. Apparently the Legacy planner is threatening to keep out anyone who helps Easton get in." Jenna laughed wryly. "Well, good. The girl should learn to handle disappointment.

She should have gone to Easton to begin with, instead of siding with her father. Lesson learned, I'd say." My jaw dropped and I saw Noelle eyeing me quizzically. I couldn't believe that Billings was more important to this woman than her own flesh and blood. Maybe I still had something to learn about the significance of our house.

"Okay. Well, thank you," I said. "For everything." "Not a problem. I hope we get to meet in person someday," Jenna replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go save my husband from another double bogey. Good-bye, Reed." '"Bye." Behind me, there was a commotion as Gage and Ivy got dragged off the steps by Mr. White, our resident disciplinarian. Gage was protesting loudly, but Ivy simply went along with a content-looking smirk on her face. Girl was such a freak. "Well? What did she say?" Noelle asked as I strolled back to my friends. Here was where Sabine would be proven wrong. I was the one who was really getting us into the Legacy. No one else could take credit for these phone calls with Jenna Korman. And everyone was here for me to deliver the good news. Credit, mine. I was about to share when I saw Josh walking toward us across the quad, all fresh-faced and handsome in a white fisherman's sweater and cords, his overnight bag still slung over his shoulder. He looked at me almost uncertainly, and my heart gave a pang. It was all I needed to make a snap decision. The credit could wait.