Private 8 - Revelation by Private 8 Revelation Read Free Book Online

enough being looked upon as a backstabbing slut. Now everyone thought I was a murderer, too? I glanced around at the few people walking along the path to the library and once again, every last one of them quickly looked away.

    "Was it because you didn't get enough love out there in East Bumblefart, Pennsylvania?" Gage asked, his voice dripping with false sympathy. "Is that why you do the things you do, Brennan?"

    "I didn't do anything," I said through my teeth, my fingers clenching into fists. "Cheyenne was leaving anyway--she was expelled."

    "Yeah. You just keep telling yourself that," Gage said. "You know, if the world isn't giving you enough hugs, you can always hug yourself, " he said mockingly, crossing his arms in an X over his chest with a sad little frown. Then he laughed and strode away with his signature swagger.

    I stood there for a moment in shock, unable to move or think or breathe. Noelle was the only person who knew I had been the one to be questioned by Hauer that night. Why would she do this? Why

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    would she start such a vicious rumor? Hadn't I been through enough already?

    Unless she was trying to send me a message. Trying to tell me how very over we actually were. This wasn't something you did to a person you planned to eventually forgive. This was something you did to a person you hated to her very core. My eyes filled with hot tears. Noelle hated me. She really and truly hated me.

    A few girls from Pemberly walked by and saw me standing there, looking like I'd just been told I had three days to live. They all clutched each other and moved quickly away, like they thought I might suddenly attack. On their retreat they nearly ran over Josh Hollis and Ivy Slade. My boyfriend and my stalker. My boyfriend and the murderer.

    My whole body went numb at the sight of Josh. His dark blond curls danced in the wind, and his blue eyes looked pained as he passed by me, like he wanted to talk. Almost like he was desperate to talk to me. But then Ivy tightened her grip on his arm and he turned away, ducking through the door to Hull Hall.

    That was it. It was all I could take. I shoved my notebook into my bag and took off for class alone.

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    INSIGNIFICANT

    I survived that first day back by focusing on my teachers when I was in class and keeping my head down and my earbuds in when I wasn't. At lunch I grabbed a sandwich and ate it by myself outside in the frigid air. Dinner I skipped entirely. Basically I played right into my new role--that of campus outcast extraordinaire.But after another sleepless night, I realized I couldn't live like this. First, I loved breakfast. Pretty much lived for it, actually. And second, I didn't want to prove everyone right. I couldn't slink around campus and let them think I was guilty. I hated proving people right. From that morning on I was going to hold my head high. People could say what they wanted. It wasn't going to affect me.

    Besides, I wanted to keep an eye on Ivy whenever I could. Who knew when she might trip up and give something away? I wanted to be there when it happened.

    Of course, when I emerged from the breakfast line on Tuesday 51

    morning I immediately doubted the sagacity of my plan. My eyes instinctively darted to the Billings tables and I felt such an instant and intense longing I almost fell over. There they were. My old friends. Looking as beautiful and untouchable as ever. They laughed and chatted and passed around holiday catalogs and checked out one another's notes for class. Somehow, they seemed even more stylish and alluring and perfect than usual. Like when Josh had miraculously woken up even hotter the day after we'd broken up.

    I forced myself to look at the other tables and seek out some new place to sit. But only wary, suspicious faces greeted me.

    What was I thinking? This was never going to work. There was nowhere for me to go.

    "Hey, Reed."

    I flinched, startled that someone was actually talking to me. When I turned around I found