And Jamie, heeling to her command, froze.
Daisy let go of him to undo his tie, tipping her head atme. “Where have y’all been? I thought you were going to miss the ceremony entirely. I brought confetti.”
“Confetti?” Jamie asked, sounding mildly horrified.
“Yep. In my bag.” Daisy smiled up at him. “James Brighton, attending New York University, majoring in Literary Studies. Eleanor Brighton, attending Mullhound College, majoring in Political Science with a focus on pre-law.”
I stared at Jamie, thinkingthis is the perfect time to tell her about Columbia, but he didn’t hear my mental note. His eyes bounced around Daisy’s face, too chicken to open his mouth.
To Daisy, I said, “Mom had to stop for gas.”
“Where’s your dad?”
I gave her a look.
And she read it immediately. “Right. Well.” Daisy grunted as she tried to tear apart the knot Jamie had tied. “You have to know this isn’t how you tie a tie.”
Jamie looked down at her wordlessly.
“Crouch, Jolly Green. My arms are getting tired.”
Jamie shuffled his feet, spreading his legs, bringing him down several inches to give Daisy better access.
“So, I’ve seen a few guys I don’t recognize here tonight,” Daisy told me. “Guys who could be a potential Mr. ASMR, I’d say. You two didn’t agree on some sort of meeting place?”
We hadn’t. “He said he’d come up to me.”
“You are so dumb,” Jamie muttered under his breath.
I thumped his shoulder. “Profound. I’m surprised you didn’t try to call me stupid in some Shakespearean way.”
“If I had, you wouldn’t have understood it.”
I punched his shoulder harder.
“There’s this blond guy,” Daisy cut in. “Super hot. Lydia was dancing with him.”
“Carter Pembleton?”
She shook her head. “She was dancing with the blond guybeforethe Pembletons showed up. Then she dropped him like a hot potato.” She shrugged. “I didn’t catch his name. It seemed like they knew each other.”
Instinctively, I reached for my necklace. “I don’t know any blond guys.”
Jamie lowered himself another inch. “Ms. Jennings said Carter’s here looking for a future Mrs. Pembleton.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me, with the way all the girls are acting. You should’ve seen the levels of sabotage Lydia was going to. She spilled her drink on Marliene.”
I gasped. “No.”
“Yep.” Daisy finally freed the tie of the knot and began kneading out the wrinkles it’d created. Only Jamie’s eyes moved, tracing Daisy’s expression as she spoke. “Everyone thought it was an accident, but I saw her. If she tripped over anything, it was Ms. Nancy’s ghost.”
I could imagine the scene in my head. Lydia, tracking her fingers through the condensation on her glass, staring at Marliene. Or glaring at Marliene. Letting the anger boil up. Then over.
The girls at Alderton-Du Ponte didn’t really bow down to one leader—that was sort of impossible, because everyone thought thattheyshould be the queen bee.Almost everyone was not-so-secretly out for each other’s throats, looking for a weak spot to stab.
“That’s the thing about Lydia,” I said to no one in particular. “She doesn’t think things through.”
Lydia didn’t understand the idea of strategy, of moves and countermoves. One of the reasons I was better.
