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Noelle said. I tipped my head forward and covered my face with my hands. Crap. I believed her. I so wanted to be all indignant and
right, but I believed her. "So are we okay?" Noelle asked. "No," I blurted. "No. We're not." Her brow creased as I looked up at her
again. "Why not?" "You have to stop, Noelle," I said, rounding my shoulders. "You have to stop treating me like I'm some moronic
little peon to be mocked. I'm not Glass-Licker anymore. I'm the president of this house. And I'm supposed to be your friend. You have
to stop... picking on me. As lame as that sounds." I expected her to smirk. To say something condescending about how cute I was or
something. But she merely looked stricken.
"I'm not going to take it anymore," I told her. "We're either friends... equals... or we're not. So which is it gonna be?" Noelle blew
out a sigh. She walked past me and sat on the edge of my bed. She looked so confused and displaced. Like she was going through an
out-of-body experience. Which maybe she was. There was a good chance no one had ever called her on her behavior before.
"Noelle?" I prompted. "We're friends," she said, looking up at me, her eyes huge. "Equals." "You're sure about that." "Reed, you and
I... we've been through so much together. Thomas and Ariana and all that crap around the Legacy last year and this thing with Dash..."
I glanced over at Sabine, who looked at me curiously. Yeah. That was the first time she'd ever heard about any "thing with Dash."
"Honestly? I would have annihilated anyone else who pulled what you pulled, but I forgave you without a blink. Think about that,"
Noelle said firmly. "How could you ever doubt that we're friends?"
My heart expanded so quickly I thought it might fill up my chest and crack my ribs. I had never heard Noelle sound so sincere. So
vulnerable. I was starting to regret having let Sabine stay. I knew that in the light of day, Noelle was going to hate the fact that anyone
other than me had seen her like this. "So... why do you treat me the way you do? What's with all the backhanded comments and put-
downs?" I asked. Noelle stood up again and hugged herself, as if she'd just gotten a chill. "I don't know. Maybe it's because you're
kind of like the little sister I never had. You're supposed to mess with your little sister, right?" she joked halfheartedly.
"True," I said, thinking of Scott. "Or in the case of my family, torture them, steal their tooth fairy money, and blame them for ev-
erything." Noelle chuckled. "I really have to meet your brother sometime." Now that would be interesting. She took a deep breath.
"But anyway, I'll stop if you want me to stop. Or at least I'll try. I can't guarantee a total personality overhaul." "Thanks." We both
stood there for a moment awkwardly, not knowing what to do. I felt deflated. Exhausted. All that adrenaline and anger had been
sucked right out of me so fast I was almost light-headed. "So, should we hug or something?" Noelle suggested finally. "Sure." So we
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did. And for the first time in a long time, I felt safe. I still had Noelle on my side. I hadn't realized how uncertain the threat of breaking
free of her had made me feel. If there was anyone at Easton I needed, it was her. The girl who had taken me under her wing. The girl
who had saved my life. The girl who had convinced me to come back after I'd decided to drop out. I could never let myself forget that
again.
BECAUSE OF ME
