DISCLAIMER: I don't own Private, because Kate Brian does.
Every Billings girl stared accusingly at Ariana. They had seen Reed's wall. The poem. Noelle probably told them about it. And the poem. The poem Ariana wrote and threw away. But how did it get there? Reed? Noelle? Marc? Cassielle? Perhaps Cassielle knew it was Ariana?
Ariana's icy blue eyes stared upon Billings sisters. This time her eyes displayed two emotions, a mixture if shock and terror. No one would believe her. No one would believe a murderer. Noelle cleared her throat, a sign for everyone except Ariana to leave the room. Reed was the last to leave and she closed the door behind her.
"Noelle, I…" Ariana began.
"I know it was you. That's your poem. You're taking revenge again. This time I'm not letting it go," Noelle said, her usual determined look taking over her facial features.
"It wasn't me. I threw that poem away," Ariana said. Just then, the door opened and Headmaster Cromwell strode in.
"Mrs. Lattimer informed me of this little confrontation," he said.
"Ariana's done it again," Noelle said.
"Done what? I…" Cromwell's words trailed off as his gaze fell upon Reed's walls.
"It wasn't me!" Ariana protested, giving Cromwell a sharp glare to remind him of the five thousand dollars. Ariana had never felt so brave in her life. She felt exactly like Noelle. Cromwell shut the door.
"Miss Lange, I have received reports describing you as insensitive and willing to do anything to get what you want. And I am sure that we both know you do not approve of Miss Osgood in 'your' house," he stated.
"What the hell? I saw Ariana write that poem! Are you blind or something? Or did she bribe you?" Noelle demanded, each word uttered with pure hatred. Ariana's heartbeat accelerated. Did Noelle know? Noelle, who could read her with a single glance.
"How much do you need, Cromwell? Ten thousand? Twenty?" Noelle asked sarcastically. Somehow there was a slightly mocking tone behind her words, implying, 'don't think you can get away with this'. Cromwell went pale before swallowing hard.
"You should know that as a headmaster of a school of such prestige, I would never do such a thing. It's against the law," Cromwell said in defense of himself. Noelle smiled in a somewhat sinister fashion, as would a tiger to its prey.
"And you should know better than anyone that people do break the rules sometimes," she said. "When they have to, of course,"
"I shall say no more." Cromwell said. Noelle rolled her eyes.
"We shall bring the cleaning staff in again for Miss Brennan," Cromwell said, but was cut off by on of Noelle's quick, witty comments.
"I thought you said you'll say no more?" Noelle asked. Cromwell ignored her.
"And we will perform thorough investigations on the house to catch the culprit," Cromwell said, before leaving.
"It wasn't me," Ariana insisted.
"Then how do you explain the poem?" Noelle asked, arching an eyebrow.
"I…don't know," Ariana said, defeated.
Cheyenne Martin wondered why they let Ariana Osgood off the hook, so many times. She, Reed and the other two had done some unimaginable things. It wasn't easy for four to break into Hell Hall to get one measly set of crib sheets. It was easier to do this kind of thing alone, like Cheyenne heard Reed did.
But going in such a big group was really Reed's idea. How typical of Brennan. Clumsy, stupid and careless. Cheyenne began to wonder if she were really doing this for the greater good.
Was getting Ariana expelled the best thing to do? Ariana wasn't the type to repeat the same, stupid mistake. But Cheyenne had made a deal. And Cheyenne never went back on her word, unless it was really necessary. With the stealth of a burglar, Cheyenne entered Bradwell House.
Ariana looked at the time. Four in the morning. Where could Cheyenne be? She saw a glimmer of light from Cheyenne's side of the room, followed by a soft vibration. Ariana obtained the source— Cheyenne's phone. Cheyenne had received a text. But from who? Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Ariana grabbed the phone and flipped it open. The sender was someone called PT.
Knitting her brow. Ariana struggled to remember where she had seen that pair of letters before. Frustrated, Ariana asked herself why she had to be so stupid. Why couldn't she have a photographic memory like Taylor? She read the text.
Lets meet up tmr. Just the 2 of us. 6 in the evening. U knw whr.
Before Ariana could do anything more, she heard soft footsteps approach. The kind of over-cautious footsteps that only Cheyenne's elephant feet would make. Panic seized Ariana, and she struggled to hold back a panic attack that would prove her paranoia had returned. She wasn't crazy. She wasn't paranoid. She was sane.
She tried to tell herself that, but somehow it wasn't working. She was crazy and she knew it. But this was no time to be debating over her paranoia.
In a split second, she had tossed the phone aside and leapt into bed. Cheyenne entered the room, picked up her phone and said nothing.
Thursday. As Ariana ate her breakfast, troubled thoughts fluttered in and out of her mind. Who was PT?
Marc sat across the room from Ariana. Ariana saw a brunette walking briskly to his table. No, not Noelle. The girl was too short to be Noelle. It was Cassielle. Everyone could feel the tension rising between the two.
"I don't want to see you again," Cassielle said, biting her lip as though it pained her to say so.
"What?" Marc asked, not believing what he had heard.
"You have a tiny, puny little thing and I don't want to be with you anymore," Cassielle said. Ariana remembered those words. They were Noelle's words. Not word for word but it was clear whose idea she stole. Noelle made Reed say it when Kiran's relationship with the Dreck boy was exposed. When Reed was still with Thomas.
That was when the memory hit Ariana. The pen. PT. Thomas' initials spelt backwards. On the pen of Dr. Pamela Thorne. Ariana needed to see . Today. But as she was in her state of shock she didn't realize when another brunette walked past her. This time, it was Noelle.
"Can't you be at least a little original?" Noelle asked loudly, her voice drenched with disgust. Ariana snapped out of her temporarily frozen state. She immediately knew what Noelle was doing. Noelle was claiming the words spoken as her own.
"What are you going to do about it? Kill me?" Cassielle asked with a smirk. Ariana knew instantly that this girl was in for it. Nobody, nobody spoke to Noelle like that and got away with it.
"I'm tempted," Noelle said, rendering Cassielle speechless. All eyes were on Noelle and the girl that dared oppose her.
Ariana saw Cheyenne nervously leave their dorm. Ariana checked the time. 5:50. Just minutes before she was supposed to meet Dr. Thorne. Cheyenne's blond hair was tied into a ponytail and on her neck hung a necklace of gold, (solid gold, no doubt) its heart shaped pendant adorned with rubies.
Ariana rolled her eyes. The girl had always loved jewelry. It was just getting dark. Ariana followed Cheyenne, quiet as ever, to the center of campus, right into Mitchell Hall and into the art cemetery. Obviously, someone had forgotten to lock up.
Ariana wondered why Cheyenne was meeting Dr. Thorne. Maybe the rumour was true, that Cheyenne took growth hormones. Maybe the hormones had adverse psychological effects.
Ariana went in, only to expose her ethereal eyes to a most inappropriate scene. Cheyenne and Trey… doing… whatever they were doing. Ariana wondered for a moment if either one was drunk but soon realised this was not the case. Ariana wondered what link lay between Trey Prescott and Pamela Thorne.
And all too suddenly, she figured it out. TP was PT, in reverse. In all her eighteen years, she had never once noticed that Trey's name bore the same initials as Thomas. And never in her eighteen years did she feel so retarded.
How could she have been so paranoid? How could she have been so ungrateful? Dr. Thorne was the reason she could come back to Easton in the first place.
Ariana retreated to Billings, leaving Cheyenne and Trey to their own devices. She needed to see Noelle. She needed the madness to end. She needed someone to tell her that it was all just a joke. One of Noelle's sick mind games.
But there was no one. Ariana entered her dorm room and slammed the door shut. As she delved into the contents of her bag she uncovered her phone to check its message inbox. She had gotten a text from an unknown number.
Looking for your stalker, Ariana? Let's meet at Bradwell. They key? Look in the room of your worst enemy.
The text was from earlier that morning. Ariana had been too busy to check her phone. Then perhaps her stalker was from Bradwell? Ariana wondered who it might be. He only two people she knew from Bradwell were Cassielle and Amberley.
Ariana knew at once that by the term worst enemy, the sender was by no doubt referring to Reed. But why, for what deranged, warped reason would Reed have the key? Well, there was only one way to find out. But to do that, Ariana would be breaking into Noelle's room. Ariana would be walking right through the gates of betrayal.