Page 7 of Pretty Vengeance

Undeterred by my reaction, she eats all three of them. “So good.”

Cocking my head, I flip my hand with flourish.“And so nutritious.”

Her eyes twinkle as she smirks at me. “I wish I’d known you were funny.”

“Why?”

“I’d have moved in sooner… Or at least split my time.”

“Where have you been living?”

“I can’t really say.” Her tone is breezy as if it’s totally normal to be cagey about whether one has chosen to couch surf like a homeless person rather than live in a dorm room that’s paid for.

“You can’t say because…” I make a “do go on” hand gesture. “You don’t know?”

She chokes out a laugh. “No, nothing like that.” Her eyes grow wide. “Wow, how wasted do you think I get?”

Sitting up, I look her over. Despite smudged makeup and disheveled hair, she beats most women on their best day. It shouldn’t make me more forgiving of her weirdness, but it does. I’m such a sucker for wayward and beautiful. A lingering longing for my bio mom, no doubt. A therapist would have a field day with me.

“Do you like coffee?” Ash asks.

“More than life itself.” My deadpan delivery causes her to do a double take.

“Hey, can we just go down and get coffee whenever we want? In the dining hall?”

My brows rise. “As opposed to what? Making reservations?” Is she for real? How does she not know how the dining halls work?

“Okay, cool. Wanna go?” She climbs from the bed wearing an extremely short, puffy white lace skirt. It’s halfway to becoming a tutu. Ash scratches her leg before making an attempt to smooth down the skirt’s layers. “So freaking itchy. Can’t believe I forgot to take this off last night.”

“I can’t believe you forgot to take it off when you tried it on. What’s up with that? You had aSwan Lakeaudition between classes?”

Her chuckles emerge in a staccato rhythm as she turns to her small dresser. “Man, if I could dance like that, I would wear this skirt into the ground. No, I was the worst kid in ballet class. At the Y’s rec center, so we’re not talking stiff competition.” Chuckling again, she shakes her head. “Complete lost cause.” Opening her drawers, she finds a pair of print leggings that could induce seizures. “It’s cool that I have clean clothes here. Legit helpful.”

Even in the slept-in t-shirt and crazy leggings, Ash ends up looking like the cover of a magazine. I grab jeans and a plain v-neck navy sweater. Once dressed, I don’t look like I belong in a fashion magazine. Or like I’ve ever opened one. “Nondescript but never sloppy” is an Allendale signature look, and I’ve got it down.

As we leave the room, my phone buzzes.

I pull it from my pocket.

Applicant Allendale,

I appreciate your efforts the past five weeks and hope you gained valuable insights into the Briar Club and its application process.

With regret, I won’t be able to mentor you further as my schedule has become too full. Best of luck with everything.

Regards,

Clare Duffy

My body stiffens with rage.

She promised she’d prep me for all the upcoming events and interviews, and I performed every tedious task that privileged swizzle stick gave me while never once complaining.

Now, after one random flirtation, she’s dropped me?

Also, is withdrawing her mentorship as far as she means to go? Because if she wanted to, she could blackball me from the Briar Club. Sheispart of the membership team, after all.

“That fucking bitch.”