Privilege 1 - Privilege (12 page)

"Anyway, you should get ready," Briana Leigh said. She grabbed the brochure from Ariana's hands and tossed it onto her bed. "Y do have a ou bathroom in your suite, remember?"

"All right. I'll come back down when I'm ready," Ariana said.

"Good."

Ariana waited until Briana Leigh had closed the bathroom door behind her, then picked up the brochure again. After a moment's hesitation she went back into the cabinet and grabbed the copy of Atonement as well. Never in her life had Ariana left a book unfinished, and she wasn't about to start now. On the way down the hall to her room, she slowly paged through the glossy pages of the Atherton handbook, feeling as if her heart was being tugged from her chest at the sight of the austere buildings and studious-looking coeds. Atherton-Pryce Hall. God, that would be a dream come true. A diploma from this place meant a person could go anywhere, do anything. But of course Briana Leigh couldn't have cared less. Curling the brochure into a cylinder in her palm, Ariana shoved open the doors to her suite. After being caged like a rat for the past sixteen months, there was one thing Ariana couldn't stand, and that was a person who didn't appreciate what she had. This girl had to be taken down, and fast--before Briana Leigh left for school in August, which was only a month away. Ariana did not like working under a ticking

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clock, didn't like the pressure it created, but she was more determined than ever to see this plan through.

It wasn't just the right thing for her or for Kaitlynn anymore. Clearly, bringing Briana Leigh Covington to her knees was simply the right thing to do.

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***

EMBRACING THE NEW

As the car slid up to the curb in front of the historic Majestic Theater in downtown Dallas, Ariana glanced at her reflection in her Chanel compact. She was still surprised every time she saw the auburn hair framing her face, the green eyes staring back at her. A sour feeling of disappointment arose in her chest. Ariana had always been proud of her natural blond hair and her unusually light blue eyes. It was as if she had been stripped of her entire identity.

But that was, of course, the point. It was better to have no identity than to have no future. Sooner or later, she was going to have to embrace the new her. And as she looked out the window at the hundreds of would-be partiers lined up behind velvet ropes outside the Majesties beautiful beveled doors, she felt a flutter of excitement. Maybe the embracing would start tonight.

"Let's do this," Briana Leigh said, sliding out onto the street.

Ariana carefully planted one high-heeled shoe on the pavement

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and rose from the car. It had been so long since she had walked in heels that she was afraid she might stumble, but the skill came right back to her. She saw a few guys on line check her out appreciatively and felt almost grateful. How could anyone like the way she looked in the tight, hot pink dress Briana Leigh had practically forced her to wear? At least Ariana had sneaked in a cropped white jacket that hid some of the ridiculous cleavage the dress's cinched bodice created. Wasn't anyone down with modesty anymore?

Briana Leigh strode right past the waiting hordes and sidled up to the larger-than-life bouncer, practically stepping on some poor girl in a white slip dress who had been about to walk through to the party.

"Hey, beyotch! Where do you think you're going?" A belligerent girl leaned over the ropes to shout at Briana Leigh. "We've been on line here for over an hour!"

"And with the look you're rocking, you'll be here for another," Briana Leigh said with a sneer. "We're on the list."

Ariana flinched as anyone within earshot reacted with offended groans and shouts.

"Briana Leigh Covington and guest. We're here with DJ Teo."

Again, Briana Leigh said this loud enough for all to hear. Showing off. Ariana lifted her chin and made sure not to meet anyone's gaze as Briana Leigh talked to the bouncer. Better to be aloof than crass. Aloof told the masses that she deserved to be where she was and that she wasn't about to apologize for it. The bouncer checked Teo's guest list and checked Briana Leigh's name.

"Enjoy, ladies," he said as he held the rope open for them.

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Ariana shoved through the wall-to-wall revelers jamming the lobby area. The conversation was so loud she could barely hear herself think. She clutched her borrowed Coach purse to her chest to protect the precious cash she had stashed inside along with the new disposable cell phone she had bought during a quick trip to the mall on the way to the party. Briana Leigh had insisted that she needed new Christian Louboutin shoes to go with her new dress, so while Briana Leigh abused the salespeople at the very Neiman's Ariana had stolen from, Ariana excused herself to hit a cell phone kiosk in the mall. Any normal person had a cell phone, and for the past twenty-four hours Ariana had felt like a poseur without one.

"There he is!" Briana Leigh shouted the moment they made it through the doors and into the theater.

She was pointing at the stage area, but how she could see anything through the constant rain of bubbles and confetti and ribbons was a mystery. Ariana squinted into the strobe lights and tried to focus as loud dance music assaulted her ears and partiers slammed into her from all sides. There was definitely someone spinning up on stage, but Ariana could make out nothing other than his sideways baseball cap. Her pulse was starting to pound dangerously.

Where was the air-conditioning? And didn't this place have some kind of maximum occupancy guideline?

"Can we move?" Ariana shouted. "We're right in traffic here!"

Briana Leigh nodded and grabbed Ariana's hand. As they slid along the wall in the right aisle, Ariana was appalled at the things she saw. Girls in stiletto heels dancing on velvet chairs. Couples making out

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on the floor between seat rows, letting their drinks spill everywhere. Bubbles popping on chandeliers and wall sconces. How could the historical society have allowed this to happen? Wasn't this place protected?

Money. It was all about money. Enough cash could buy anything, anyone. The realization both disgusted and heartened Ariana. Once she got her hands on Briana Leigh's money, she was going to be banking on this fact. Somehow, she was going to have to buy herself a new identity, so some shady counterfeiter out there was going to make a serious load of cash off her.

"Y okay? Y look sick," Briana Leigh said, pausing about halfway through the orchestra seating. The music was much louder here, pumping

ou ou directly into Ariana's skull through huge speakers set up at the corners of the stage.

"M'fine," she mumbled.

"Well, then relax. It's a party," Briana Leigh told her.

"Right."

Ariana turned around to scan the crowd and tried to find something, anything stationary, to focus on. Everywhere she looked, people were in motion. Girls danced in barely there skirts up on platforms dotting the stage. Waiters circulated with trays full of neon-colored drinks held precariously above the revelers' heads. People shouted and hugged and danced and sweated on each other. Ariana was starting to realize that she was not used to this. Even in her former life, she'd always had a little group of friends to attend parties with. A group that acted as a sort of lifeboat in the choppy waters. She didn't like the fact

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that she didn't know anyone here. That she didn't have a safe zone to retreat to--a place where she was in control.

Maybe this had been a bad idea.

"Come on! Let's get down front where he can see us!" Briana Leigh shouted, grabbing Ariana's other arm.

Ariana's shoulder exploded with pain as Briana Leigh yanked her into the crowd, moving toward the stage. It was her sore shoulder, the one she'd fallen on during her faked suicide attempt, and suddenly it all came back to her in stark flashes. The cold floor, Kaitlynn's screaming, the rough hands of the orderlies, being held down with the tube shoved into her throat. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't--

No. Stop it. You're not there anymore. It's over. Over. Over.

As Briana Leigh wound around a group of randomly moshing skater-boy types, Ariana forced herself to breathe.

In, one... two... three...

Out, one... two... three...

It's a party. The first one you've been to in almost two years. Just relax....

That was when Briana Leigh took a sudden turn and Ariana slammed right into a passing waiter. His tray went flying and empty beer bottles scattered everywhere, one shattering against the edge of the stage. Bits of glass ricocheted in all directions and the partiers within range shouted and scattered.

"Oh my--I'm so sorry!" Ariana cried. Briana Leigh stopped, annoyed, still clutching Ariana's hand.

"No problem." The black-clad waiter gathered up his tray and

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stood. He ran a hand through his longish blond hair and looked around. "Everyone okay? No injuries?"

The partiers shrugged and went about their dancing. The waiter turned to Ariana and smiled. Her breath completely left her, but in a good way this time. His eyes were a gorgeous dark blue, and deep dimples anchored his lightly tanned cheeks. He wore a tight black T-shirt, and his arms were obviously defined. For the first time in forever, Ariana's heart skipped a few delighted beats. He took in her face and obviously liked what he saw. Ariana found that she simply could not help smiling back.

"All good?" he asked.

He even had a sexy voice. Ariana's smile widened. "All--"

"Oh my God! Let's go already!"

Briana Leigh yanked one last time on Ariana's arm, and before Ariana could take one more look at the gorgeous waiter, he was swallowed up by the crowd.

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HUDSON

"I just don't get it. There are perfectly good schools here in Texas. Why does everyone feel the need to go to the Northeast? Like just because the schools have been there forever, they're innately better. That is totally backward thinking. Those schools are stuck in the past! They're archaic. And I, for one, like new. Progressive. Old school can kiss my ass."

The more alcohol Briana Leigh imbibed, the more crap spewed out of her mouth, and Ariana was starting to get tense. She smoothly pulled her cell phone out of her purse to check the time. It was a quarter to one. The band for which this party was being thrown had long since taken the stage, so where was Briana Leigh's beloved Teo? Ariana had been counting the minutes until he found them so he could bear some of the Briana Leigh burden.

"Where do you go to school, Emma?" Briana Leigh asked, taking a sip of her cocktail.

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"Oh. I haven't decided where to go this fall," Ariana said. "But I know where I won't be going. I won't be going to Atherton-Pryce Hall."

She added this last bit just to distract Briana Leigh from prodding her further about her education. And it worked.

"I'll drink to that!" Briana Leigh said, lifting her glass to Ariana's. "Screw Atherton-Pryce Hall!"

"Screw Atherton-Pryce Hall!" Ariana echoed. Then she pretended to take a swig of her drink.

"What was that?" Briana Leigh said, narrowing her eyes. "Take a real drink."

"I did!" Ariana protested.

"Oh, please. You've barely had anything to drink since we got here," Briana Leigh said, waving a hand at Ariana. "Have you not noticed we're at a party?"

"This is my third martini!" Ariana lied, her eyes wide.

Briana Leigh rolled her eyes and trained her attention on the stage, crossing her slim, tan legs at the knee. The truth was that since Ariana and Briana Leigh had arrived at their VIP section--basically a roped-off set of ten seats in the balcony--Ariana had been nursing the same iridescent martini. The last thing she needed, given her precarious situation, was to have her logic impaired. Briana Leigh, of course, harbored no such qualms. Which was surprising. After all, Briana Leigh had some pretty dark secrets to protect.

Ariana glanced sideways at her benefactress. The girl could barely hold herself upright in the theater seat, and had to keep resting her

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cheek on her hand. Was she wasted enough to share a little info about her bank accounts? Subtlety, Ariana decided, was key.

"So, Briana Leigh, if all your friends are away, why didn't you go with them? I mean you obviously have the money to--"

"Teo!"

Briana Leigh jumped out of her seat so fast she almost tipped forward and plunged over the edge of the balcony. Heart in her throat, Ariana lunged from her chair and grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her upright. Briana Leigh laughed as she righted herself and Ariana rolled her eyes. She turned to find DJ Teo jogging down the steps toward the front row, girls on all sides checking him out and whispering to each other as he moved along. Ariana had to admit that, in an empiric sense, Teo was not unattractive. He was on the shorter side--maybe five-foot-eight--but had broad shoulders and large hands. With olive skin, dark hair shorn close to his head, and gleaming black eyes, he definitely had the exotic thing going for him. Plus, there was an easy confidence about him as he slapped hands with fans and signed autographs and smiled for photos, which Ariana admired.

Still, he was not her type. Ariana had always been into the more mysterious, tall, slender guys. She didn't do stocky and charismatic. Plus, his sneakers were way too tattered for her taste.

"Teo! Teo! Over here! Will you take a picture with me?"

A buxom blond girl who was falling out of her blouse grabbed Teo and shoved her camera at her friend. As the two of them posed, the girl made sure to press her ample breasts up against Teo's chest and pull his cheek to hers. Next to Ariana, Briana Leigh bristled.

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"Hey! Get your own man, slut!" she shouted, leaning into the seat.

The girl didn't even hear Briana Leigh, what with the deafening music and the fact that she was a few yards off, but the people closer to their section laughed and pointed. Ariana cursed under her breath and pulled Briana Leigh back.

"Calm down. You're making a scene," Ariana whispered to her, almost feeling embarrassed on her behalf.