Page 53 of Dirty Liars
I stop by the office on my way back to the room to make a quick … withdrawal. I almost fainted the first time I walked in and asked for five hundred dollars in cash. I was sure they’d refuse me, or worse, try to contact my parents, but it was given to me without so much as a batted eyelash. It surprised me how easy it was. Too easy.
So easy that the guilt of it ebbed faster than it should. It’s become just one more thing to add to my ever-growing list of lies keeping me here at the academy.
I walk by Victoria on the way back to grab my things. It’s a little odd. I don’t usually see her this far down the hall since her room is the very first one by the stairs. She doesn’t look at me, but something about the way she quickens her step as soon as she spots me makes me even more suspicious.
As soon as I open the door, Dana shoots up from the edge of her bed.
I stop, one handle on the door, and take a quick glance down the hall as Victoria disappears into her own room.
“Were you … hanging out with Victoria, just now?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dana says, quickly busying herself by organizing a stack of already organized papers.
“Right.” I shut the door behind me and take a cautious look around. Nothing seems to be missing or defaced … which is the only reason I can imagine she’d be in here in the first place.
I decide not to push the issue. Of course, I don’t trust Victoria … but the last thing I’m going to do is interrogate Dana about it right now. I’ll let her have a little moment, but we’ll have to talk about it when we come back from break.
Because if Victoriaissuddenly noticing Dana, it’s not because she’s realized what a genuine, caring person she is. It’s because she’s planning something.
I don’t have time to think on it long. Dana’s parents arrive early and we’re whisked off away from the school, and away from all the problems of the last semester. At least for a little while.
CHAPTER21
Thanksgiving with Dana’sfamily is like living in a Hallmark movie; late autumn trees, a little light snow one morning, and warm sun and feather down pillows the rest of the time.
It’s easy to see where she gets her good nature. Her father is some high-ranking judge and her mother an heiress, but you’d never guess it from the way they behave around me and Dana. Well, aside from the sprawling Connecticut mansion where they live.
The weekend passes like a dream, but I find myself anxious to get back to the academy. Astor, Blair, and Wills have become a staple in my life … and try as I might to keep them at bay, I’m starting to develop genuine feelings for them. I’ve only been gone a few days, but I miss them already.
No one’s ever questioned why I don’t have a cell phone back at the school, but the silence from the boys without the ability to call or text them grows heavy on my mind … especially when I catch Dana sneakily smiling at texts of her own a couple of times, though she fervently denies it.
There’s only one person who can make her act like this, and it unsettles me. I promised myself I wouldn’t bring it up until we’re back at school, but when she claims a headache on Sunday night and leaves me to eat dinner with her parents alone just so she can take a mysterious phone call upstairs, it’s the final straw.
The guilty look on her face when I step into her room is all the proof I need.
“Hey Dana,” I start, not entirely sure the right way to bring this up. I don’t think thereisa right way to bring it up. “I wanted to ask you something a little … personal.”
I shut the door carefully behind me, but I don’t go to sit with her on the bed. I just stand by the door, awkwardly ringing my hands.
“What is it?” she asks, one hand nudging her phone conspicuously back under her pillow where she’s hidden it.
“It’s about Victoria,” I say carefully. “I wondered … has she been talking to you lately?”
“What if she is?” Her sharp tone is unlike her.
“I kind of convenient, don’t you think?” I can’t just keep standing awkwardly by the door, so I move over to sit on the end of her bed. The swath of blankets seems like a growing ocean between us. “I mean, she hasn’t talked to you in years and then suddenly you’re best friends again now?”
“You’re just jealous,” Dana snaps. “You want her all to herself.”
I’m visibly taken aback. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means … it means …” Dana’s struggling with herself. She knows I’m telling the truth, but she isn’t willing to admit it.
“Dana, she’s manipulative and sneaky. I know you’re in love with her, but please, really think about this. She’s got to be up to something.” I’m growing more concerned as we talk about it.
Dana frowns sharply and turns suddenly to face me. “Is it really so hard to imagine someone might actually have feelings for me? You don’t get to be the only one in love.”
Her words strike me in more ways than one. Jealousy is a strong emotion … but love … that’s even greater.
