Disclaimer: I don't own Private, as much as I wish I did.

Author's Note: I started this about two months ago. (23rd June). Anyway, I hope it's as good as my last fic. It was actually my friend's idea. The title was her idea too.

Prologue

What if Ariana hadn't killed Thomas?
What if it was Reed?
Would Gwendolyn Hall have burnt down?
Would Reed and Cheyenne have been enemies?
Would Cheyenne have died?
Would Sabine have gone to Easton at all?
Would Reed have been President of Billings?
Would Billings have been shut down?

Chapter One

In between the four concrete walls of a small, padded cell in the Brenda T. Turnbull Correctional Facility for Women, two angry eyes glimmered from the very depths of the darkness that shadowed her somewhat cadaverous complexion. In her blue eyes was a mixture of hate and betrayal. The tips of her long blond hair showed through the little light that managed to enter her cell. She wasn't supposed to be there. She didn't belong in some mental facility. She belonged at Billings, at Easton Academy with her true sisters.

She should've been a freshman in an Ivy-League college right now. She should've finished her senior year a whole year ago. She should've spent her last year at Eaton not just as a student, but Easton royalty. She should've been on her way to becoming one of the best authors or poets Easton has ever seen. She should've been spending her free time reading and writing, but she was stuck here instead, in a damp, dank cell in some mental institute with sadistic shrinks like Dr. Meloni.

And to think she worked so hard. She had worked so hard to become one of Easton's elite. She had gone through all that hazing. Making a life, a destiny; it was so hard. Yet it was so fragile, mere words could destroy it. It could be taken from you in the blink of eye. The exact same thing had happened to her. Her life, the destiny she had created. It had been swiped away from her by a certain Pennsylvanian redhead scholarship witch.

Suddenly, her cell door was roughly opened by a burly guard in dungarees. He had refused to wear the facility's uniforms since he recently discovered the wonders of dungarees. (for he was somewhat wrong in the head, too)

"Osgood! Meloni wants to see you," he said. Sighing, Ariana got up, and grabbing the door handle, she slammed the door right onto his shin. As he clutched his shin in pain, Ariana grinned and walked ahead. She just loved to play games with the poor oaf. Ariana marched right into Meloni's office without even bothering to knock.

"So what do you want?" Ariana asked.

"You're switching therapists," he said.

"Good," Ariana said.

"To a therapist who can actually understand you murderous psychopaths,"

Ariana bit her lip and dug her fingernails into her arm, trying to control her temper.

In…two…three

Out…two…three

"Well if that's what you wanted to say…" Ariana got up, left the room and slammed the door shut. When she got back to her cell, the door was still open. The key was hanging from the lock. The guard in dungarees was nowhere to be seen. Fighting temptation, she took the key and shut the cell door. It wasn't fair. She wasn't supposed to be locked up. She was supposed to be having fun. She was not a murderous psychopath. She never killed anyone, except Mel and Sergei, of course. She was here for the murder of Thomas Pearson. But the true killer, the one who killed Thomas, she was still out there, enjoying what should have been Ariana's life. Just thinking about it made her angry.

The next morning, Ariana was to see her new psychiatrist. Unlike middle-aged Dr. Meloni, the new doctor, Dr. Thorne was only about 3 years older than Ariana. She very much reminded Ariana of Noelle, having brown hair and clad in black.

"The key," Thorne said. How did she find out about the key? Ariana thought for a moment. That key was her only way out. The bridge back to civilization. The path back to an education. She couldn't just let it go.

"What key?" Ariana asked. There was an awkward silence and Dr. Thorne picked up a clipboard and a gold fountain pen.

"Subject does not escape but has no intention of surrendering the key. Hm…" Dr. Thorne murmured to herself as she jotted that all down. "Interesting…"

So that's what Dr. Meloni meant by a shrink who actually understood psychopaths. Dr. Thorne herself was one.

"So how did it happen?" Dr. Thorne asked.

"What? What happened/" Ariana said, showing the signs of the beginning of a panic attack.

"Calm down, Ariana. You can trust me, okay? Think of me as your… sister. I too was a Billings girl. I know how tough it gets there,"

"You were a Billings girl?"

"I was, Ariana. So what happened?" Dr. Thorne asked. "What happened to Thomas Pearson?"

Noelle Lange and her friend tied a blindfolded boy to a tree. Tall, thin and drunk, it was none other than Thomas Pearson., Easton's most irresistible bad-boy. He had just embarrassed Reed and Noelle was going to teach him a lesson. They all took all kinds of pictures of him and mocked him while he was semiconscious. They loosened his binds and left him there.

But only one of them, a blue-eyed Ariana Osgood felt remorse welling up inside her. Even if she was angry with Thomas for falling in love with Reed, deep down, underneath that psychotic-ness, she still cared. Even if he gave Reed the subway token rightfully Ariana's, Ariana still wanted him. She needed him. She sneaked out of Billings and went back to the tree, where Thomas was now fully roused.

"Thomas, I'm here to help…" Ariana said.

"Don't touch me," Thomas said with a fierce glare.

"Thomas…"

"You know what, Ariana? I'm going to come clean with the cops. I'll tell them about us. About Mel and Sergei,"

Somewhere in the bushes, there was a faint rustling sound. Someone was watching them.

"Reed is everything to me. She deserves the truth,"

"Thomas, don't do this," Ariana said, bleary-eyed. She could see the blurry figure of a baseball bat. Suddenly, there was a noise. They ignored it.

"You're a psychopath, Ariana. Just like your mother,"

"Don't ever say that again," Ariana said through her teeth. She reached for the baseball bat, but a hand quickly swiped it. The bat crashed down on Thomas's skull and a crack was heard.

"You lied to me, Thomas," Reed said, fuming.

"Why…Why…did…you…hide…things…from…me…" Reed said, hitting him between each word. But Thomas didn't answer. He was dead. There was blood everywhere. It trickled down the bat onto Reed's fingers and fingernails. Her clothes were bloodstained. The tips of her hair were dripping with the dark red substance. Reed was horrified. So was Ariana.

"What did you just do?" Ariana asked in shock.

"I know everything, Ariana. You are going to help me cover things up and I won't turn you in for this horrible crime as long as you do as I say," Reed threatened.

"You're the one who killed him," Ariana retorted in her own defense.

"Mel and Sergei, Ariana," Reed said with a slightly malicious tone.

"You don't know anything. Brennan," Ariana said.

"I can find out,"

"Okay, Reed. I give up. Now go wash up before anyone sees you," Ariana said. Just as her mother had told her, 'You never know what someone is capable of till they are pushed to the edge, Ariana'. It was true. Who would have thought the seemingly innocent Croton girl could kill anyone? She had blackmailed Ariana. And no one knew better than Ariana that a pest that doesn't know anything is the biggest pest of all…

"So Reed killed Thomas? What about Mel and Sergei?" Dr. Thorne asked.

"Mel was… threatening me. Sergei stalked me," Ariana lied.

"So you didn't kill Thomas?"

"No. It was Reed. She blackmailed me into all this. That's why I'm here and she's out there, enjoying herself as a Billings girl. I didn't want anyone to find out about Mel and Sergei so I gave in,"

"And instead, you got in here because of Thomas's death,"

"Wasn't thinking straight,"

"So what happened with Mel and Sergei?" Dr. Thorne asked. It seemed as though she wanted to know every inch of Ariana's life. Ariana wondered what she would t ell her shrink. The truth? No, never a voice inside of her said, and she knew that was what she would do. She would do what was right; what was right for herself.

"Mel was drunk… took a knife… almost killed me. I did what I had to do. And Sergei… he… he fell into the ice pond. He didn't know the ice wasn't thick enough… he fell in and I tried to help him… but he was too heavy and he let go," Ariana lied, her eyes filled with tears. Not that she felt for them… she was still upset about Reed and Thomas. Dr. Thorne's eyes were glued to her clipboard as she silently took note of everything. Ariana noticed two bold, golden letters embossed onto the clipboard. P.T. Ariana also noticed it was Thomas's initials spelt backwards.

Ariana wondered how Dr. Thorne could be so unfeeling. Here she was telling the most tragic story in the history of mankind, and all she cared about was that clipboard of hers. Dr. Thorne kept on writing. This lasted for about five minutes. Ariana bit her lip and dug into her arm again.

In…two…three

Out…two…three

In…two…three

Out…two…three

IN…TWO…THREE

OUT…TWO…THREE

Then suddenly, Dr. Thorne stopped writing and looked up with a contented smile on her face. "Osgood, I think I can get you out of here,"

And before Ariana knew it, she was leaving the facility. She had done her tine and was returning to Easton. She was going to show that vixen of a scholarship girl who deserved to be at Easton. Show her who was a real Billings girl.

Ariana was enjoying her first few hours of freedom. It felt so good. Maybe she wouldn't be returning to Easton. Who cares, anyway? There are tons of other great schools. She wondered what she should do if not returning to Easton. As she sat on the steps of a mall, she saw two girls walk past. One was a redhead and the other a brunette.

And for a moment, Ariana thought it was Reed and Noelle. They were everywhere; it was unbearable. There and then, Ariana knew what she would do; what she had to do. Return to Easton no matter what the consequences.

She wasn't going to let Reed scare her. She wasn't going to let a Glass-Licker tell her what to do. She was not prepared to lose her best friend Noelle to some Pennsylvanian witch. She wasn't going to go down without a fight; not like last time.