The Complete Private Collection: Private; Invitation Only; Untouchable; Confessions; Inner Circle; Legacy; Ambition; Revelation; Last Christmas; Paradise ... The Book of Spells; Ominous; Vengeance by Kate Brian Read Free Book Online Page B

first day,” Missy said.
    “Were you really spying on them?” Constance asked.
    “Not exactly,” I replied, privately cursing myself.
    What was wrong with me? All I had done since I had arrived here was dig myself a hole. With the teachers, with the Billings Girls. Now I was going to have to do everything I could to scramble out.

LUCK
    “Hey, new girl.”
    As we were on our way out of the cafeteria, Thomas Pearson pushed himself away from the gray brick wall and fell into step with me. Constance shot me a look like Hello, supah-stah. Like how could I possibly know a guy this hot on only my second day there?
    Search me.
    “Hello,” I said coolly. Even though my pulse was racing.
    “Got something for you,” Thomas said.
    He produced a small medallion from his pocket. It was bronze and had a square hole in the center. He held it up between his thumb and forefinger, looking quite pleased with himself.
    “What is it?” I asked, pausing.
    “My good luck charm. I’ve decided to give it to you because I no longer need luck. I have transcended luck.”
    I smirked and tried to sound unimpressed. “Good for you.” My heart was pounding.
    “It is, isn’t it?” he replied.
    I had to struggle to keep from grinning doofily in his presence. So annoying.
    “But really,” I said. “What is it?”
    “It was a subway token. From the days before MetroCards,” Thomas said, raising his eyebrows.
    What the hell was a MetroCard?
    “I was devastated when they outmoded them. Call me old school, but there’s just something about slipping something solid into that little slot and hearing that satisfying plink, then reaping the rewards. . . .”
    He shook his head wistfully and gazed directly into my eyes. I flushed. Hard. Metaphor intended? Probably. Metaphor noted? Definitely. Girl intrigued, yet mortified? You bet.
    “Anyway,” he said, breaking the momentary trance. “You hold in your hands a relic from another time. Keep it well.”
    “Thanks.”
    He backed away toward the quad, hands in his pockets, grinning suggestively. I caught more than a few girls staring at me with unabashed envy. Hearts broke all across the campus. As Thomas turned away, two guys jogged to catch up with him. He ducked his head and listened as they scurried to keep up.
    “ Who was that ?” Constance asked with inflection that befitted the magnitude of the man.
    I grinned. “That was Thomas Pearson.”
    “What’s his deal?” she asked, standing on her tiptoes to watch him as he and his cohorts were enveloped by the crowd making their way to afternoon classes.
    “I have no idea,” I said. “Explain to me what this is.”
    Constance laughed. “You used to use them to pay for the subway. Now they have electronic passes called MetroCards. Geez, Reed. Haven’t you ever been to New York?”
    No. I’d never been anywhere. Not that she needed to know that.
    I stared down at the tiny token, feeling indescribably happy until I felt someone watching me. When I looked up, I was looking directly into Ariana’s clear blue eyes. She was a dozen yards away near the stone benches at the center of the quad, but from the intensity of her stare, she may as well have been on top of me. My heart skipped a disturbed beat and I smiled automatically—uncertainly. Then she blinked and turned away, leaving me wondering if I had misread the whole thing.

DEFENSIVE MANEUVERS
    I was the first person on the bleachers for soccer practice that afternoon. Not wanting to be late, I had run back to Bradwell after the last class to change, pausing only to slip Thomas’s token onto my silver chain and fasten it around my neck before sprinting all the way up the hill to the fields. Now, as the rest of the team approached in one clump, carrying soccer balls and orange cones, I realized that being super-early was just as conspicuous as being late. At the front of the pack, Noelle eyed me as if my appearance amused her.
    I pulled my legs closer to me and looked off across