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Relief rushed over Ariana like a warm Caribbean breeze in the dead of winter. "You're talking about Daniel
and me?" she whispered.
"Fine." Isobel smiled. "Play dumb for now. But I want the whole story later."
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Ariana smiled in return, her heart beating normally again. "Miss Osgood?" Mr. Holmes was looking directly
at her, an amused look in his eye. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"
"No," she said weakly.
She looked down at her lap, her cheeks burning. Of course he had called her out in front of the whole class
without so much as acknowledging that Isobel had been talking too. Apparently whatever Isobel had learned
from Jordan Krauss was good enough to get her immunity for the rest of the semester.
"Good." He nodded, loosening his tie. "I was just saying that we'll start on Hugo's Les Miserables next week.
Be ready to discuss the foreword and the first five chapters." He walked around the edge of his desk and
pulled a thick manila envelope from his bag. "That should do it for today, folks," he announced, unwinding
the thin string that held the envelope closed. "Once you've gotten your Madame Bovary papers back, you're
free to go." He dumped the stack on his desk and pulled the first paper from the pile. "Aldridge?"
"So what did you do over break?" Ariana turned to Isobel as chatter in the classroom swelled around them.
"Anything good?"
"My break wasn't as exciting as yours, that's for sure." Isobel snickered. "I got bangs cut." She fingered the
heavy fringe that fell across her forehead. "Other than that, I was stuck going to a lot of dinner parties with
my parents once they got back from vacation. The only thing that got me through it was the fact that Jack was
visiting." She lowered her voice, a half smile playing across her lips. "Funny how a quickie in the coat closet
during the salad course will get you
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through dessert and coffee." She laughed, pulling a tin of lip balm from her clutch.
"Funny," Ariana echoed, watching Isobel dip her ring finger into the sticky gloss and apply it expertly to her
smooth pout. "Anything else?"
Isobel looked up at her. Innocence radiated from her pores, thicker than her perfume. "Not really."
Ariana tried to mask the disgust that crept through her as she watched Isobel check her reflection in her
compact mirror. Isobel Bautista was the perfect example of everything that was wrong with Easton Academy.
Flawless on the outside. But what was hidden beneath her shiny veneer was imperfect. Ugly.
