Privilege 1 - Privilege by Kate Brian Read Free Book Online

friend didn't need to know anything more. It was safer for her that way.

    "Nothing. Can we please talk about something other than Dr. Meloni?"

    She dropped down on her bed again and grabbed the worn copy of Atonement she'd been reading. Kaitlynn hesitated for a moment, then sat on the edge of her own mattress, facing Ariana across the three-foot span that separated their beds.

    "How was the food?" she asked. "Is it really as good as they say?"

    "Better," Ariana said with a smile. "I was allowed as much dessert as I wanted."

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    "Wow." Kaitlynn looked duly impressed.

    "And you should have seen the view," Ariana continued. "I could see the whole lake from my window, including the beach at the hotel. I actually saw this couple making out in the middle of the night after they went for a swim."

    Actually, they had gone skinny dipping and then had sex right out there on the beach for all of nature to see, but Ariana didn't want to shock Kaitlynn. The girl had never even been kissed before she'd been locked up in this hellhole.

    Yet another precious experience stolen away from her by that bitch Briana Leigh Covington.

    "A midnight swim," Kaitlynn said, looking wistful. "That must be heavenly. I would give anything to go for a swim in that lake. Just once."

    She lay down on her bed, curling her knees up, and stared across the room. But this time, she wasn't looking at Ariana. She was gazing off into the distance. Into a future in which she might actually get to feel the cool water against her skin. Ariana knew this was one of her friend's favorite daydreams.

    "We should make a pact," she said, sitting forward.

    "A pact?" Kaitlynn snapped back into focus. The childlike idea of a pact was right up her alley.

    "Y A pact," Ariana said, her eyes sparking, playing to her audience. "If we ever get out of here, we meet up at the lake, over on the east side

    es. where it's nice and shady, and go for a swim. You and me. Together."

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    Kaitlynn's eyes died a bit when she heard the plan, and Ariana felt a twinge of exasperation. Kaitlynn didn't believe it would ever happen. But it would.

    "Yeah. Okay," Kaitlynn said sadly. "It's a pact."

    They shook on it, and then they each leaned back on their own beds. Ariana was so giddy about what was to come she could hardly keep a straight face, but she knew that a girl in her position, someone who had just gotten off suicide watch and was now facing a grueling session with Meloni, would be anything but happy. She tried to put herself into an appropriate mood. What would she be doing right now? What would she actually say?

    "I can't believe I have to spend all day tomorrow with Meloni," she groused. "He's probably going to give me some kind of electroshock therapy or something."

    "Try not to think about it," Kaitlynn said, her voice bolstering. "Maybe it won't be as bad as you're imagining."

    "I can't. I can't not think about it," Ariana said, playing up the desperation. "I hate him so much."

    "Want me to tell you a story?" Kaitlynn suggested, propping herself up on her elbow.

    Ariana smiled and laid her book aside. There was the Brightside Girl she knew and loved. "Definitely. One of your stories will definitely help."

    "Which one? Ariana and Kaitlynn Take Manhattan? Ariana and Kaitlynn Do Paris? Ariana and Kaitlynn in the Maldives... ?" Kaitlynn was getting excited. There was nothing she loved better than the stories

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    she made up about what the two of them would do if they were ever together on the outside.

    "Paris," Ariana said, closing her eyes. "Definitely Paris."

    "Okay. Paris it is," Kaitlynn said. Ariana heard her bed creak as she got comfortable. "We open the story on the banks of the Seine, where the local artists all clamor to paint our portraits. 'Y are zee most beau-ti-ful girls we have ever seen,'" Kaitlynn said in a badly executed French accent.

    ou " 'S'ii vous plait! Sit for us! It would be such an honor to paint you.... We will not even charge for the