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mailed it to him, but I had that whole computer- avoidance issue. "Sounds good," Marc replied, starting past me, awkwardly managing
the box and his hefty backpack, which had slid down and now hung from his elbow. "Thanks for asking me." "Thanks for saying yes,"
I replied with a smile. As Marc hobbled out, I felt about ten times better. I was invited to Kiran's party, and I had a date for the fund-
raiser, with someone I might actually want to talk to, at that. I knew the Billings Girls wouldn't approve--they would have preferred a
Hunter Braden, even if he was a jackass--but at that moment I didn't care. Maybe it was time for this Billings president to start doing
things her own way.
* * *
When I walked into Billings, Noelle was standing near the fireplace in the foyer with Tiffany and the Twin Cities while Sabine,
Constance, Kiki, and Astrid pored over a printout of the guest list. Noelle turned and her eyes went right to the invitation, which was
still clutched in my hand. "Oh, good. You got one. I thought I was going to have to text Kiran and remind her to invite you," she said.
All the blood in my body rushed right to my head and started to boil. Like I needed her help to land an invite. Like I would be
nowhere without her. "So, Reed," Noelle continued, as if she hadn't just insulted me, "since the whole night is about glamour, we were
talking about maybe hiring some models to just circulate around the room and look hot. What do you think of--" Without a word, I
turned and stormed up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I could practically feel the hushed surprise at my rudeness following me
all the way up to my room, but I didn't care. I was so sick of Noelle. So sick of her constantly trying to put me in my place. As if she
could define what my place was. Maybe last year. Maybe last year I had let her do that. But not anymore.
The door opened behind me and I whirled around, expecting to find Noelle walking in without a knock as always. But it was
Sabine. A very timid-looking Sabine. "What was that?" she half-whispered. "Are you okay?" "Actually, no. I'm not," I blurted, throw-
ing my coat down on my bed. "I'm starting to think you're right about Noelle. I mean, I always just figured that her little digs and stuff
were just part of her personality, and I let them roll off my back or whatever, but now I'm starting to wonder why I need to be friends
with a person who treats people like that. When does it stop? When do we become good enough friends t
hat she stops wanting to
make me feel like shit?" I had no idea there was so much venom inside of me until it started spewing out. I took a deep breath and
looked at the floor. "Maybe you're right. Maybe the only person she cares about is herself."
"Well, have you ever seen her be consistently nice to any of her friends?" Sabine asked. I thought back to last year. Back to her
random jabs at Taylor and that whole incident with Kiran and her Dreck boy. She certainly hadn't treated either of those so-called
BFFs with much respect. But then there was the other. "Ariana," I said bitterly. "She's the only one Noelle never put down." Sabine
stared at me. I knew the name didn't hold as much power with her as it did with me, but she had heard the story. She knew enough to
know that Ariana was an interesting choice when it came to showing loyalty. "If one of your friends has you paranoid... constantly
walking around wondering when she's going to choose to backstab you... then that person isn't much of a friend," Sabine said finally,
