that she was in. It seemed unlikely. Charlotte was a goth , after all. Plus, chubby. Mandy was far too wise in the ways of the world to put out the welcome mat for someone who was so blatantly an outcast. Even if she did need more followers for Belle’s secret cabal.
Fashionably possessed , I thought. I hoped Charlotte would fail. I hoped I could restrain myself from leaping onto a table and yelling out everything I knew.
Weighed down by too much to deal with, I went to the food line and got the pasta with vegetables, and some milk, and approached my table. Julie scooted over, making sure I knew she wanted me to sit beside her. She was so sweet.
As I put down my tray, Elvis said, “You are not going to believe this. The prank is going to involve swimming. Au naturel .”
My mouth dropped. “Mandy wants Charlotte to skinny-dip? After Kiyoko drowned?”
“Yeppers,” Ida confirmed. It was the exact same thing she’d made Kiyoko do last semester.
“Oh my God, that is unbelievable.” I couldn’t fathom it. Not even Mandy could be so callous. It had to be Belle’s idea.
“You going?” Julie asked me, taking a bite of chicken. She turned to the group. “Linz is a lifeguard.”
“Then you should go,” Claire said.
Images, sensations of the vision in the shower stall swirled around me. Drowning. That frigid body floating on the surface of the lake . . . I couldn’t stop the visual of Kiyoko’s ghastly blue-white face from blossoming in my mind, so like Celia’s. It was the first time I had connected those dots—Celia’s face looked like a victim of drowning’s.
I tried to force myself to speak, but I couldn’t. I stared down at my plate.
“I think someone should tell Dr. Ehrlenbach about this prank,” Marica declared.
Elvis snorted. “Like she’d do anything. Did you read the newsletter Marlwood sent out over break? Mandy’s parents are donating a new sports center.”
“They’ve already had one dead student,” Marica countered.
I clenched my jaw and gripped my hands together in my lap. Did I really live in a world where girls like Mandy could do things like this to girls like Charlotte because they were rich? Yes, I did. My hands shook. I was livid. Watching the gossip spread, sensing the eagerness in the room. The thrill of the danger and drama, provided by Mandy and her victim.
Jackals , I thought. And I’d been one of them, back home. I would have been laughing and murmuring right along with them.
So who was I madder at: Mandy or the old me? I didn’t know, but I felt as if I might pop right out of my skin.
“Lindsay? Are you okay?” Julie whispered.
I looked up into her hazel eyes, filled with concern for me. She put her hand over mine and patted me. It brought me back down. Calmed my inner beast. What if I’d lost it the way I had in the movie theater? Stood up and starting yelling craziness about possessions and victims?
I glanced over at Shayna; true to her word, she was watching me. She dipped her head and looked steadily at me, as if to remind me that I wasn’t in this all alone.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I told Julie. Then I couldn’t help myself; I ticked my glance over to Mandy’s table, where she serenely sipped from her water glass, a little smile playing on her face. The center of our universe. Sleek, blonde, beautiful, vicious, evil. A tremor shook me. She had to be stopped.
Yes , Celia agreed. Exactly.
TEN
SHAYNA CAUGHT UP WITH ME as I left the commons with the rest of Grose. I slowed and let my dorm mates go ahead; they didn’t notice because they were too busy discussing whether or not we should attend the prank. Last semester no one would have thought twice.
“Remember that old abandoned library?” Shayna asked under her breath. We’d gone there first semester for another of Mandy’s pranks, when she’d transformed the whole thing into a haunted house. “You ‘got’ to go inside.” She made air quotes. “And you told the rest of us that there
Fashionably possessed , I thought. I hoped Charlotte would fail. I hoped I could restrain myself from leaping onto a table and yelling out everything I knew.
Weighed down by too much to deal with, I went to the food line and got the pasta with vegetables, and some milk, and approached my table. Julie scooted over, making sure I knew she wanted me to sit beside her. She was so sweet.
As I put down my tray, Elvis said, “You are not going to believe this. The prank is going to involve swimming. Au naturel .”
My mouth dropped. “Mandy wants Charlotte to skinny-dip? After Kiyoko drowned?”
“Yeppers,” Ida confirmed. It was the exact same thing she’d made Kiyoko do last semester.
“Oh my God, that is unbelievable.” I couldn’t fathom it. Not even Mandy could be so callous. It had to be Belle’s idea.
“You going?” Julie asked me, taking a bite of chicken. She turned to the group. “Linz is a lifeguard.”
“Then you should go,” Claire said.
Images, sensations of the vision in the shower stall swirled around me. Drowning. That frigid body floating on the surface of the lake . . . I couldn’t stop the visual of Kiyoko’s ghastly blue-white face from blossoming in my mind, so like Celia’s. It was the first time I had connected those dots—Celia’s face looked like a victim of drowning’s.
I tried to force myself to speak, but I couldn’t. I stared down at my plate.
“I think someone should tell Dr. Ehrlenbach about this prank,” Marica declared.
Elvis snorted. “Like she’d do anything. Did you read the newsletter Marlwood sent out over break? Mandy’s parents are donating a new sports center.”
“They’ve already had one dead student,” Marica countered.
I clenched my jaw and gripped my hands together in my lap. Did I really live in a world where girls like Mandy could do things like this to girls like Charlotte because they were rich? Yes, I did. My hands shook. I was livid. Watching the gossip spread, sensing the eagerness in the room. The thrill of the danger and drama, provided by Mandy and her victim.
Jackals , I thought. And I’d been one of them, back home. I would have been laughing and murmuring right along with them.
So who was I madder at: Mandy or the old me? I didn’t know, but I felt as if I might pop right out of my skin.
“Lindsay? Are you okay?” Julie whispered.
I looked up into her hazel eyes, filled with concern for me. She put her hand over mine and patted me. It brought me back down. Calmed my inner beast. What if I’d lost it the way I had in the movie theater? Stood up and starting yelling craziness about possessions and victims?
I glanced over at Shayna; true to her word, she was watching me. She dipped her head and looked steadily at me, as if to remind me that I wasn’t in this all alone.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I told Julie. Then I couldn’t help myself; I ticked my glance over to Mandy’s table, where she serenely sipped from her water glass, a little smile playing on her face. The center of our universe. Sleek, blonde, beautiful, vicious, evil. A tremor shook me. She had to be stopped.
Yes , Celia agreed. Exactly.
TEN
SHAYNA CAUGHT UP WITH ME as I left the commons with the rest of Grose. I slowed and let my dorm mates go ahead; they didn’t notice because they were too busy discussing whether or not we should attend the prank. Last semester no one would have thought twice.
“Remember that old abandoned library?” Shayna asked under her breath. We’d gone there first semester for another of Mandy’s pranks, when she’d transformed the whole thing into a haunted house. “You ‘got’ to go inside.” She made air quotes. “And you told the rest of us that there
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