Devious (19 page)

“Yeah, I saw you screaming at Sebastian. What was
that
all about?” Benny leaned forward, her eyes greedy for gossip.

Jenny could tell Brett didn’t want to talk about it, so she spoke up. “I thought everything was going well until the whole crashing-through-the-skylight thing.” She tried to make her voice sound light, but she was really worried. She kept thinking about Isaac, hoping he wasn’t going to get in too much trouble. She felt terrible about leaving him alone to face the music.

Celine Colista, wearing a skimpy Only Hearts nightie, tucked her legs up under her and wrapped a fleece Waverly Owls blanket around her shoulders. She sipped from a bottle of spiked Gatorade. “Who cares? The party will go down in history—and all the better, since no one got busted.”

Benny giggled drunkenly. “I can’t believe we all got out before those security guards could catch anyone.”

“I can’t believe she actually fell through the roof!” Alison replied, stumbling slightly across the room before collapsing into an empty armchair. Jenny had seen her down three glasses of sangria, and with her tiny frame, that had to have made an impact. Lon Baruzza, who’d been flirting with her all night, was probably extra pissed that the party got broken up.

“
Hello!
” Benny wrapped a pink cashmere blanket tighter around her. “What about Easy Walsh, appearing out of nowhere? Wasn’t
that
incredible?”

“Why do you think he came back?” Brett asked, staring right at Callie.

Immediately, Callie felt everyone’s eyes on her. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Easy since she saw him, wondering the same exact thing. Why had he come back? Was it… for her?

“So, I don’t get it, Cal. Are you and Brandon together, or what?” Benny asked, pulling her light brown hair into a ponytail.

Callie glared at Benny. She and Brandon had shared an awkward goodbye as they ran from the security guards. Although they didn’t talk about it, she was pretty sure he was thinking about Easy being back, too. She had no idea what was going to happen tomorrow. Was it possible that Easy was back for good? Now that she had seen him again, the idea of him leaving before she could talk to him made her sick to her stomach. Was he thinking about her right now? Where was he sleeping? Could he really tell that Brandon had been holding her hand? “I don’t know,” she said finally, feigning a yawn to avoid further questioning.

“How about Heath?” Brett jumped in, seeing the distress on Callie’s face. Callie shot her a grateful look. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him looking dirtier.”

“I wondered how long he’d be able to last in the woods.” Jenny giggled. The other girls weren’t worried about getting in trouble, so maybe she shouldn’t be, either. Maybe things would work out. “Without female contact.”

“I’ve totally missed him,” Benny admitted. “It’s kind of nice to have someone around to leer at you.”

There was a pounding on the front door of Dumbarton, and Jenny jumped. “Who is that?” she hissed.

“Don’t be such a chicken,” Benny replied crankily, standing up and stepping into her Mephisto clogs. “It’s not security. They’d just come in.” She clomped over to the door and threw it open. A rush of cold air burst into the foyer, along with an almost blue Sage Francis and Verena Arneval, still wearing their high heels and party dresses.

“Holy fuck, it’s cold out.” Sage stumbled through the door, giggling and rubbing her bare arms. “Thanks for letting us in.”

“Our ID cards were in our coat pockets,” Verena explained, lunging for the throw blanket on the back of the common-room couch.

“Wait, what?” Brett’s eyes widened. “You guys left your coats there? With your IDs in them?”

“But if they have our IDs…” Verena trailed off.

“They know who we are,” Benny finished the sentence, throwing herself into an armchair. “Fuck! I didn’t even think of that. A bunch of us ran into Yvonne Stidder on the way home and she opened the front door. I didn’t even notice I was cardless.”

Jenny met Brett’s eyes. Brett, as junior class prefect, probably had a good idea what kind of punishments would result from an illegal, alcohol-fueled party that ended with someone falling through the roof.

“We’re totally fucked,” Sage wailed, grabbing a random fleece from the coatrack in the living room that the girls used as a lost and found. She wrapped it around her shoulders. “I can’t believe I thought we were in the clear.”

The sound of another knock at the door startled the room. Everyone watched, terrified this time, as Sage cautiously pushed open the door. Instead of an angry security guard, Heath Ferro whirled in, pausing to throw his arms around Sage and give her a long, wet kiss on her cheek. “Did I smell popcorn, ladies?”

“Heath, get out of here,” Callie snapped, pushing him away as he tried to hug her. His chin was covered with a blondish stubble, and his cheeks were ruddy and tanned. The scruffy look actually suited him, but after all the rumors about him eating poor, defenseless squirrels, Callie was kind of grossed out.

“I can’t help it. I’ve been deprived of female contact for too long.” His green eyes eagerly scanned the room, taking in the pajama-clad girls sprawled on the sofas and chairs. He threw himself down on a couch between Brett and Jenny. “This is like heaven for me.”

“Seriously, we’re in enough trouble already.” Brett shoved Heath’s arm off her. He smelled like a combination of Pine-Sol and BO. “Leave.”

“Trouble?” Heath asked, snatching a lock of Jenny’s hair and holding it under his nose. His eyes rolled back into his head as if he were about to faint with pleasure. Jenny quickly pulled her hair out of his hand and inched away from him.

“Oh shit,” Brett exclaimed, getting to her feet as a terrible thought crossed her mind. Although she hadn’t been stupid enough to leave her ID card behind, she
had
been stupid enough to leave the monogrammed silk scarf her grandmother had given her for her birthday last year. How many Waverly Owls shared her same initials? It would take the dean about five minutes to figure out who it belonged to.

At that exact moment, like a sign from above, everyone’s phones buzzed. Except Jenny’s. She stared at her mysteriously silent Treo as everyone else flicked open their phones.

“An e-mail from the dean,” Brett confirmed, running her hand through her hair.

“Please tell me he says we’re all under house arrest and have to stay exactly where we are for the rest of Jan Plan,” Heath said, pressing his hands together in prayer at the thought of being locked in the Dumbarton common room with the prettiest girls in school.

“Let me see.” Jenny peered over Heath’s shoulder to read the e-mail on Brett’s phone. It was addressed to a long list of people—everyone who had been at the party.

Brett continued to read aloud. “From the coats, ID cards”—Sage Francis groaned—”and cell phones left behind, along with several photographs taken by security as students fled the scene, we’ve managed to compile a list of those who attended the party,” Brett read. “If you are receiving this e-mail, you are officially on academic probation. Everyone must report to my office at eight o’clock sharp on Monday morning to receive your punishment. In the meantime, you may pick up your abandoned belongings in the Stansfield Hall lobby.”

“Sincerely, your new dean,” Benny added in a snide voice. “I guess he’s no James Bond, after all.”

“Isn’t it ironic that I’m not in trouble for once?” Heath asked, sinking back into the couch with a satisfied grin on his face. “Since I’m, like, the king of Waverly parties.”

“You were there, remember?” Sage snapped, pushing her silky blond hair off her forehead.

“Yeah, but only at the end. And I was part of the rescue party, so it doesn’t count.” Heath blew Sage a kiss.

“
Easy
was the knight in shining armor who rescued Isla, not you.” Benny pointed out, staring at her cell phone in disgust.

“Walsh was only there because I brought him, so Isla’s indebted to me, too.” Heath practically licked his lips. “So he better not think he’s getting her without a fight.”

“How come your name’s not on this list, Jenny?” Callie pointed out, her hazel eyes scowling. Why did Heath even think Easy wanted Isla to begin with? Did he know something? “
You’re
the one who threw the party!”

“Are you sure I’m not on it?” Jenny asked meekly, staring at the list of names. “I mean, I don’t know why I wouldn’t have gotten the e-mail, too.” Her palms felt clammy all of a sudden as she felt everyone’s eyes on her. The stupid party had been her idea in the first place—and now she was the only one not in trouble? That didn’t make any sense. Although her coat had been easy to retrieve, she was pretty sure she’d left, on the kitchen counter, the tiny Moleskine sketchbook she kept on her at all times in case she saw something she wanted to draw. And written in her very readable calligraphy on the inside front cover was the name Jenny Humphrey. The dean had to have found it.

Unless Isaac did first.

“I don’t see Isaac or Isla’s names on here, either,” Benny pointed out, her porcelain skin reddening with indignation. Even though five minutes ago she’d been raving about how legendary the party was, she glared at Jenny as if she’d dragged her there by her thumbs. “And it was their freaking house!”

Jenny sank back into the sofa, listening to everyone bicker. But even worse than her friends’ icy glares was the sinking suspicion that Isaac had done this to protect her. And that he thought this was what she wanted. After all, she’d already gotten special treatment on more than one occasion because of him. The dean had given her permission to do her art project solo because of his son’s interference, and she didn’t get busted for being out after curfew because she’d been with him.

Now, it seemed, she was being spared from punishment when
she
was the one who’d suggested the illicit party in the first place.

Jenny felt the angry stares, and her face grew hot. For the first time in her life, she wished she were in trouble.

Instant Message Inbox

Email Inbox

Sorry, babe, but you know you would’ve done the same thing to me.

Xx

I
t was after midnight, and Callie had counted the faded glow-in-the dark stars stuck to the ceiling above her bed a billion times. But they wouldn’t help her fall asleep. Not tonight. Not when Easy was somewhere on campus. Her whole body was wired, as if she’d chugged twelve lattes, and her mind kept replaying the scene at the end of the party. Easy, standing there in the middle of all the chaos, staring straight at Callie: she should have talked to him. Asked him what the hell he was doing back at Waverly. Instead, she stood there like an idiot, holding Brandon’s hand and mouthing
Hi
like she was some kind of parrot.

Across the room, Jenny, who usually slept like a baby, turned for the thousandth time in her bed. The springs squeaking beneath her were like fingernails on a chalkboard. Callie couldn’t lie in bed listening to that any longer. She threw off her thick down comforter and jumped to her feet.

Jenny sat up in bed, her hair a tangled mess around her head. “What are you doing?” she asked sleepily. She stared at Callie as she stepped out of her cashmere pajama pants and grabbed the pair of dark Stella McCartney skinny jeans slung over her desk chair.

“I can’t sleep.” Callie tugged her navy blue Ralph Lauren cable-knit sweater from the closet and threw it on over her pink camisole. She pulled on a pair of thick wool socks and grabbed her red Marc by Marc Jacobs duck boots. “I’ve got to get some air.”

Jenny sat up. “But Pardee… she’ll hear you leave.”

“I’ll be quiet.” Callie grabbed a black fleece she never wore from the back of her closet—she might as well try to blend in with the night. “Look, I just have to walk around a little. Clear my head.”

“You’re going to look for Easy, aren’t you?” Jenny asked softly, pulling her quilt up around her.

Callie blinked. Who was she kidding? She wasn’t going for a walk to clear her head. She’d been waiting for the sound of rocks at her window, the sign that Easy was waiting for her below. If he’d wanted to see her, he would have known where to find her. But maybe he was too proud to. “I guess. Wish me luck.” Callie zipped the fleece up to her chin. She had to talk to him. The thought of Easy was like an itch in her brain, and she couldn’t imagine doing anything else until she saw him. She was hoping that somehow, wherever he was, Easy wasn’t able to sleep, either.

“Bring your cell,” Jenny said, her brown eyes sympathetic. “You can text me when you need to get back in.” Callie flashed her a grateful grin before slipping out the door.