Rival Revenge (11 page)

“Wow,” I said. “Never would have guessed that.” I smiled to myself. “Her room is so cute.”

Alison and I moved out of the doorway and walked a few steps.

“And finally,” Alison said. “My room. You're staying with me, so I hope you like it.”

Alison's walls were covered in her sketches and she had a stack of sketch books in one corner. She had art supplies—paints, paintbrushes, pencils, markers, and chalks in a bin by her desk. Her comforter, lavender with no designs, set off deep purple pillows that matched her rug. She had a whiteboard above her desk and in neon dry-erase markers, she'd written a couple of notes to herself—
Get new pens
,
Talk to math teacher abt ex credit.

“Your room is amazing,” I said, immediately noticing
her ladder bookcase. I walked over and looked. Every shelf was full of books—some were even stacked horizontal.

“You read a lot, huh?” I asked.

Alison nodded. “Yeah, I guess. Heather and Julia keep joking that I'm going to fill my entire room with books. I've got more in plastic bins under my bed.”

I grinned. “My room at home is like that. I had the worst time picking my fave books to bring.”

“Because even though the library has everything, there's something different about reading
your
copy,” Alison said.

“Ex-actly,” I said. “I knew I couldn't come to school without
National Velvet
and
My Friend Flicka.
Best horse classics.”

Alison reached over and plucked a book from her shelf. “I just got this one over the summer and I've read it a million times already.” She handed it to me.

“Omigod. The cover is
pink
,” I said. “I love it already.” The title,
Dork Diaries
, had a supercute smiley face in the
O
in
Dork.

“It's only my new favorite book,” Alison said. “It's a graphic novel about this girl, Nikki, and how she tries to fit in at her new school.”

I flipped through the book, smiling at the adorable
drawings and the diary format of the book. Nikki seemed a lot like me during my first year at Canterwood—trying to fit in and find a place at a new school.

“I'm going to get this,” I said. “It looks awesome.”

Just as I handed the book back to Alison, the main door opened. I put down my bag and Alison and I walked into the living room. Julia and Heather stood there looking at me. I smiled at both of them—trying not to let them see how nervous I was. I sat down at the far end on their sand-colored couch and tried to stop my stomach from swirling.

Julia set down four cans of Coke on the coffee table and stared at me.

“That's
my
seat,” Julia said.

“Oh,” I said, jumping up. “Sorry.”

“This is not happening all night,” Heather said, shooting a glare at Julia. She put down a tray of snacks—pretzels, yogurt-covered raisins, grapes, and Cheez-Its. “Sasha's staying here—
deal
and stop the comments.” She turned to me. “Sit.”

I sat and Julia knew better than to argue with Heather. She plopped onto the opposite end of the couch and folded her arms.

“Your suite is awesome,” I said.

Heather nodded. “Duh. Like we'd live anywhere that wasn't this cool. So, I vote that we order pizza, watch TV, and save the snacks for later tonight,” Heather said.

I nodded. “Fine with me.”

Julia nodded and started dialing on her cell phone. “Half cheese, half pepperoni?” she asked.

Everyone nodded and she placed the order. When Julia hung up the phone, we all kind of avoided eye contact. Maybe I'd made a mistake. I could be hanging with Paige right now, watching a DVD or something. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my current obsession—Lip Burst in juicy watermelon. I took my time applying a coat of the clear gloss and waited for someone to say something.

“Let's start watching something while we wait for the pizza,” Heather said. “I just got the latest season of
Carrington Heights
on DVD. It's ridiculous that they don't offer that channel at school.”

“Oooh, yesss!” Alison said. “I forgot about that. There weren't even any reruns on this summer. So rude. Put it on right now!”

“You probably haven't seen it before, but you'll figure it out,” Julia told me.

“Actually, I own all of the other seasons except for this one.” I grabbed a soda.

Julia mashed her lips together and didn't say anything.

Heather put in the DVD and we all focused on the TV. Soon, everyone's attention was on the teen drama. We jumped when someone knocked on the door. It was Stephanie, Orchard's dorm monitor. Delivery guys weren't allowed to come to our rooms, so he'd brought the order to her office.

“Hi, Sasha,” Stephanie said, smiling at me. She was short and sweet-looking with shoulder-length light brown hair that hung in loose waves.

“Hi,” I said, remembering that I'd first met her before when I'd been at Orchard with Callie.

Stephanie handed over the pizza to Alison and waved as she left. “Enjoy, girls!”

Julia grabbed a handful of napkins and four paper plates. We all sat around the coffee table. Heather opened the steaming box and each of us grabbed a slice. Alison hit play and we watched the DVD while devouring the pizza.

“So. Good,” Alison said, her mouth full. “I looove pizza.”

“Alison!” Julia said. “Watch it—don't get crumbs on the carpet. I just vacuumed yesterday.”

“Sorry,” Alison said. She leaned carefully over her plate.

In seconds, we were absorbed in the show again.

“Can you believe that Cristian left Miranda for Zoe?” Julia asked.

“Shhh,” Alison said. “This. Is. A. Critical. Moment.”

Julia and I actually traded grins and watched Alison lean closer to the TV. Soon, there was nothing left but pizza crusts. I had almost forgotten that I was with the Trio—it felt just like watching TV with Paige. The mood was relaxed and the weirdness from earlier had slipped away.

After we finished a disc of
Carrington Heights
,
Alison turned to all of us. “I know this is clichéd and whatever, but want to do our nails? My sister got me a gift certificate to Sephora and I bought tons of nail polish.”

We all looked at our nails—they were bare, jagged, and gross from being in the stable all of the time.

“I think we kind of have to,” Julia said. “Mine are a mess.”

“Mine too,” I said.

“Let's do pj's first,” Alison said. “Then we're cozy and ready for tonight.”

Alison and I walked to her room and Julia and Heather
went to their rooms. Alison and I changed into our pajamas. I'd picked light blue pants with a matching T-shirt that had a cloud in the center. Alison had chosen purple leggings and an oversize gray T-shirt.

We walked into the living room and Julia and Heather soon joined us on the couch and recliner. Julia's pj's, a bright pink T-shirt that had matching shorts with white hearts, reminded me of the color scheme of her room.

Heather looked comfortable, but still perfect somehow, in black drawstring pants and a white tank top. I'd never seen any of them in pajamas before—just regular clothes or riding gear.

Alison went into the bathroom and came out with a lime green plastic container. She opened the lid and revealed dozens of bottles of polish, all lined up in the box.

“Wow,” I said. “Awesome.”

Alison looked through the polishes and pulled out a clear shade. “Base first,” she said.

We took turns painting our nails, passing around the bottle when we were finished.

“Now the hard part,” Julia said. “Choosing a color.”

“I love this one,” Heather said, picking up a light pink. “It's called ‘Kiss on the Chic.' Cute.”

“I'm feeling red,” I said. “This is it—‘Big Apple Red.'”

Julia and Alison picked their colors. Julia went with a dark purple and Alison chose a chocolate brown.

“Let's play a game,” Heather said. “I vote for ‘Versus.'”

“What's that?” I asked. “I've never heard of it.”

“Oh, my cousin Joseph came up with it,” Heather said. “It's easy. You pick two people you'd like to see go up against each other. Everyone else gets to ask you a question or two about the situation and circumstances. Then, you have to say why you think that person would win if they fought it out.”

“It's
so
fun,” Alison said. “Watch us play once and then you can come in on the next round.”

“Okay,” I said.

Heather came prepared. “Utz versus Headmistress Drake.”

“Location?” Alison asked.

“Behind the admin building,” Heather said.

“Situation?” Julia asked.

Heather paused, thinking. “Utz tackled a student because he broke one of her wrestling trophies.”

“Already got it,” Alison said. “Headmistress Drake would
so
win because even though Utz is a wrestler, the headmistress would be so furious that she'd take her down.”

“Disagree,” Julia said. “Utz would win because no matter how mad Drake was, Utz is a trained wrestler. Drake would have no chance against her.”

Heather looked at both girls. “Both of you made good points, but I have to go with Drake. This is
her
school and if someone tackled a student, Drake could be sooo fired. So her anger at Utz would overcome her lack of training.”

I loved this game!

“Alison, you go,” Heather said.

“Okay, Violet versus Jasmine,” Alison said.

“Who started it?” Heather asked.

“Violet,” Alison said.

Julia leaned forward. “What are they fighting over?”

Alison took in a breath. “Um, whether or not Jasmine should tack up all of the Belles' horses before the next lesson.”

“Did Jas do anything to make Violet mad?” I asked.

Alison shook her head. “Nope. Violet just told her to do it from now on.”

We all sat back for a second, thinking about our answers.

“Violet,” Heather said. “She's the leader of the Belles and Jas would do anything she says.”

“Jas,” Julia said. “She's barely willing to tack up Phoenix. There's no way she'd be that scared of Violet that she'd tack up three more horses.”

I nodded. “Jas. She's not really hanging with the Belles that much anyway. Plus, Jas has gotten scary enough on her own—she doesn't need them anymore.”

Alison looked at me. “I agree with Sasha. Jas would win. Julia, you go. Then Sasha.”

Julia smirked at me and somehow I just knew I wasn't going to like her choices.

“Eric,” she said, “versus Jacob.”

“Where?” Alison asked.

“Eric's room in Blackwell,” Julia said.

This was going to go
so
wrong. I could feel it.

“Did Eric invite Jacob over or did he just show up?” Heather asked.

“He showed up,” Julia said.

I was going to ask the question before someone else did. “Why?”

“To fight over you because they both want you back,” Julia said.

I took a breath and glanced down at my hands. They'd clenched and I hadn't even known it. I wasn't going to get up and leave. I could handle this.

“Jacob,” Alison said. “He does work out a lot.”

Heather's eyes flickered to mine. “Jacob. He wants it more.”

I sat, not wanting to answer.

“Hello?” Julia said. “Waiting.”

“Jacob,” I spat out. “Just because. I'm not giving a reason.”

“Fine,” Julia said. “And I picked him too. There's just something about the way he was acting for a while. Maybe he really does want you back.”

We sat in silence as we finished our nails. I wondered if that meant something—we'd all disagreed on the pre-vious answers, but Jacob had been the unchallenged winner of this round. Things were quiet for a few minutes before Alison and Julia started chatting. And I knew I just had to let go—it was a silly game and I'd come here to have fun. I wasn't going to spend the rest of the night analyzing why they'd all picked Jacob instead of at least one person choosing Eric.

We gossiped about the latest drama in our classes and they laughed when I told them about Utz's health class.

“I'd see how many times I could get away with breaking the egg before she was like, ‘That's it! You're done,'” Heather said with a grin.

“I was tempted,” I said. “But Ja—” I stopped before I said his entire name, hoping they wouldn't notice.

“Ja—what?” Alison asked, looking up. “Ohhh.” Her eyebrows shot up and she went back to painting her pinkie.

“Nothing. Jacob's my partner and he drew this really cute face on the egg, so I don't want to break it.”

Julia stared at me as if she was about to stay something, but a look from Heather made her stop.

Someone's cell rang and Heather jumped up to answer it. “Hi, Dad,” she said. She walked out of the living room and into her room, closing the door behind her.

Julia got up and went to the bathroom.

“Her dad calls
every
night,” Alison said. “He wants a total progress report on what she worked on with Aristocrat. He freaks if she misses his call.”

I glanced at Heather's door. “That's awful. She has to hate hearing her phone ring every night.”

We both looked back at our nails when Julia emerged from the bathroom and Heather joined us seconds later.

“Everything okay?” Julia asked. I'd never heard such concern in her voice.

Heather nodded. “Yep. Just the usual.”

Heather, using her unpainted hand, grabbed the remote and turned on a new episode.